The US poet began writing his sonnets the day Donald Trump was elected president – but even after Trump, they remain fierce, profound and ageless
American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin
I only intend to send word to my future
Self perpetuation is a war against Time
Travel is essentially the aim of any religion
Is blindness the color one sees under water
Breath can be overshadowed in darkness
The benefits of blackness can seem radical
Black people in America are rarely compulsive
Hi-fivers believe joy is a matter of touching others
Is forbidden the only word God doesn’t know
You have to heal yourself to truly be heroic
You have to think once a day of killing your self
Awareness requires a touch of blindness & self
Importance is the only word God knows
To be free is to live because only the dead are slaves
From American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes.
Related: Political writing from Terrance Hayes to the Anglo-Saxons – books podcast
Hayes reads from his collection here and gives an interview with Review 31 here.
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