KM4
7 Rap
Out of a mouth of bone that lives inside
the darkness in a stone like a cricket hidden
somewhere inside a dark house, the incessant stridulation
sounds like the song, I would love to be martyred in
Allah’s Cause and then get resurrected
and then get martyred and then get resurrected
again and then get martyred . . .
If your trouser legs drag on
the ground you’re sullied, you’re unclean.
Be a Fedayeen. Be a Marine. On the other side
of language where none of the concepts stick
the boy with his trousers rolled liked
what he called “the rap music”
and a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Knicks.”
Contributor’s notes: Tom Sleigh
Contributor’s notes: Michael Hafftka
KM4 Introduction: Poem & Paintings
Artist’s Statement: Michael Hafftka
KM4