Malik Thompson

Regime

& the gods bring leaflets of nightshade to the slaughter.
The virgins disrobe & huddle. Crests of ocean tremble
& rise behind them—one expanse of blue begging
to reach another. Blade of obsidian, pommel
of petrified wood. Our dawn prayers chanted
in concentric rings of sand. The moon draws
close & grazes its lips against the tide. An incurved
rib-cage shudders beneath the knife.
Crimson lilies open where the bodies lie,
the tenderness of one priest as he sets them down.
These flowers dissolve upon the white foam’s
arrival, deep red brightening into brief coral.
Sea birds call to one another as they wade
across the warming sky. Pelican.
Opportunistic & beady-eyed gull. Will you
become my angel for these grisly hours?
Will you grant me wings as pure & feathered
as your own? The priests crush the nightshade
in blood & seawater. The gods pour the potion
in their mouths & eyes. The gods sing with
the eyes of mothering does. A committee
of vultures will arrive here soon. & the bones
will sparkle—sun-bleached & stripped of flesh.

Malik Thompson is a Black queer man from Washington, DC. He is a bibliophile and baked goods connoisseur. He served for three years as co-chair of OutWrite DC, an annual LGBTQ+ literary festival. Thompson has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Lambda Literary, the Brooklyn Poets Mentorship Program, the Anderson Center, the Arts Club of Washington, and Sundress Publications. His poems are featured in Cincinnati Review, Denver Quarterly, Diode, Poet Lore, and DC Queer Pride Poem-a-Day, among other publications.