brother to brother
their bodies bound in motion—captured still
every movement trapped
in evergreen joints
like the solitary fang of a knife
or a bullet will tear the most tenderly
into a wound flowering crimson

the world is borders
& barbed wire fences
the world is closed to me

all bodies are borders
opening
& closing

& all the flower boys remain

wrecking balls
& God is a border fence
on a death certificate

I learn the language of movement
across borders of blossom

to be immigrant
in a brother's body
is to bloom
where no roots

are welcome

Note: The poem is after Marlon T. Riggs’ Tongues Untied