Cyrus Armajani is an Iranian-American poet currently residing in Oakland who teaches poetry and writing to youth who are incarcerated in Alameda County.
Free
I walk in those waters.
These waters.
Breathe that air.
This air.
It must be the water.
It must.
The air.
I am responsible
for the world
inhabit.
the water.
Stop writing about a river.
That river.
Stop writing: a blue jay.
A blue jay.
If you must
write about a bird. If you
then a raven
or a crow or a
starling or
a crow and a starling
comfortable in cities
around people
in cities.
All varieties of suburban grass are dead.
Grass
bent on dying slowly.
Bent
Bullets, I offer you world my knees.
Bruised. And bloodied. And blood. And bloody.
I gather snow for you, world, in two bowls.
Chipped ceramic bowls.
For you.
To eat.
To stop.
To stop the swelling.
