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for imam khaliifah ibn rayford daniels.

By Mia S. Willis

when the state murdered            a poet
none of us slept                                                none of us deserved to
the way we stood by                      with pens and phones and helpless guilt
watched one of us                           get strapped to a table
have the lyric                                     wrung from his throat
then sighed                                        turned our own page

today khaliifah is dead                                  submissions are closing
today khaliifah is dead                                  the book is too short
today khaliifah is dead                                  this draft needs an edit
today khaliifah is dead                                  no one has come back in his place

the way we                                       will spill
ten pints                                            of elegiac ink
weep futile tears                            as a species
lament that someone                  should have saved him
someone like                                   us but braver
we deserve                                       nightmares full of needles
restraints                                           coffins and wailing sons
with grave dirt                                 under their fingernails

today i am tired                                               of sonnets that are not bricks
today i am tired                                               of villanelles that are not hammers
today i am tired                                               of kneeling in showers of ash
today i am tired                                               of begging the volcano to spare us

tomorrow i will call                      my father
break the news                              like a shattered window
the state murdered                       a poet
it was                                                  not me
not                                                       this time

                            alhamdulillah
 

 

 

Listen as Mia S. Willis reads for imam khaliifah ibn rayford daniels.
Added: Wednesday, March 19, 2025  /  Used with permission.
Mia S. Willis
Photo by Marcus Jackson.

Mia S. Willis is a Black queer poet, popular educator, and cultural historian from Charlotte, North Carolina. Their poetry has been featured by Academy of American Poets, The Slowdown, Muzzle Magazine, The Offing, the minnesota review, and others. Mia is a Master of Fine Arts student at Randolph College and the author of monster house (Jai-Alai Books), the 2018 winner of Cave Canem’s Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize. Their debut collection, the space between men (Penguin), was a winner of the 2023 National Poetry Series Competition.

Image Description: Mia S. Willis, a Black non-binary person with a close-cropped haircut, looks into the camera. They wear rimless glasses, a dark collared shirt, and a gold chain. Trees are in the background. The photo is in black and white. 

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