Warehouse with Guns That Scream My Name Through No Contact Orders
When I had my wisdom teeth removed
The infection did not get me. The taste of my own blood did.
It tainted every flavor and every food.
I feel a similar way after my club insinuates
Someone will have to beat back ICE with bullets instead of salt.
Instagram posts suddenly become solidified.
When rain weathers rocks, they give up calcium.
It hardens into carbon capturing teeth on the sea floor
This is how the Earth has stayed cool for so long. Habitable.
My father was arrested for possession of a handgun
He posted a hit for the killer of a black boy,
And my mother told me to keep her out of my Instagram posts because of it.
She wanted to end the cycles that spin the world with me-
Yes, I’m black and my father went to jail.
Yes, he was a radical.
But I imagine he fought so his children wouldn’t have to-
I only learned he loved me 2 or 3 years after he died.
Of course, they say it is an unlikely event that I will ever see true violence.
But how can I not see? When I’ve been told I have my father’s eyes?
Just get your degree and get out, my mother says.
I keep thinking that one day someone will recognize my last name
Aim. And finally get their own 10,000 dollar reward.
What happens when you wish violence on another man?
My father’s last words to me besides “Where’s your mother?”
Were “I have a lot of regrets”
And for a while I thought he meant his violent ways.
But now I think he meant having me
And never getting to see what I became
Under the pressure of this world
About the Author
Kainda has been writing poetry since middle school and has been published in the literary magazines for Hopkins School, Cary Academy and Bates College. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys collaging and watching horror movies. She is striving to earn degrees in Environmental Science and Politics at Bates College and eventually go to law school, where she will continue to also write poetry.