Supplication for a
Reading in March

Last night my Allah
you brought to me
Spring Ulmer and thank you
for that, for bringing
a voice from the prisons
and killing fields
I have not seen before.
Last night my Allah
you told me a secret
about all of us
while she was reading
and the windows were open
without screens to filter
the sounds of the merry
making below in Brewery
Gulch, the sounds
of the Harley Davidsons
speeding off and the squealing,
drunken women and men.
Last night my Allah
you kept the gnats
from biting my flesh
so that the windows
could remain open
and cool my mighty thirst
for words and the outdoors.
Last night my Allah
you crept in through
the lips of an athiest
and told me that
we are the successful
and I thank you for that.
Last night my Allah
you hinted that Mr. Ali
would come here
in March and I said,
as I hoped, in'sha'allah.
My Allah, please do not
take Mr. Ali from this world
before March, I implore you.
Please my Allah do not
take me either until
I hear Mr. Ali speak
and have made my Haj.
Last night my Allah
the windows were open
and those you created
from clay and water
made laughter and chaos
and it bled into the room,
where the night
had overtaken the day.
And you put off the chastisement
for another day or another
year, put off the victory
so we could enjoy the loss
and the way it sounds
to our shell shaped ears
for just a bit more.
But please Allah do not
take Mr. Ali before March
and he stands on the stage
in Arizona and knows that I am here.
I want Mr. Ali to know
that I am here and that he came
as if to see only me
and tell me that he
knows about all of this.
My Allah I know two
of your secrets, I know
that there are no accidents
and that you created
the Sun after you created
the shadow. So please
do not take me before
my Haj and do not
take Mr. Ali before
he comes to visit me here.


On Supplications