- American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin
I can become human being the lightFather makes me fire Mother makes me iceWhat my father makes me I pour over forestsI burn the woods covering the hills & valleysUntil the air is light what my mother makesI drink inside I taste metal rusting like a bladeThrown in a river I taste the pepper I tasteThe weeds & depths still water seized with fearBecomes as transparent as ice an easy wayTo kill people is with water that is wildSince water is also the source of lifeRain in the valley rain in the mind walk with rainIn your hair without a care or error or eraOr air lay on the bed of a river like a knife [End Page 17]
Terrance Hayes is the author of Lighthead, Wind in a Box, Hip Logic, and Muscular Music. How To Be Drawn is his most recent collection of poems.