embrace me in a suicide vest

By Brandonlee Cruz

I introduced myself as part terrorist from my mother’s side.

You weren’t surprised by how close in proximity I was to you.

Brown bodies always find themselves in the blast radius, somehow.

You told me how you’ve always felt dangerous in your own skin.

How people looked at you as if you were going to explode.

So much so that duct tape is holding your gunpowder-stuffed torso.

However, your heart still hums like a prayer.

I often lay on your chest to hear God.

I’ve stuffed my right cheek with his words and I’ve stuffed my left with your name.

My mouth was filled with divinity.

I wanted to swallow it whole.

I wanted to fill my stomach with lovely things until it smiled through the duct tape.

Whisper bomb threats into my ear.

We were as intimate as explosives.

Brandonlee Cruz is an 18 year-old Muslim poet of Puerto Rican and Egyptian decent. He is a current undergrad student at Kenyon College. His work has been published in The Atlantic and Scholastic. Check out more of his work at brandonleepoetry.tumblr.com.