The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party

Gambia. Alhaji, twenty-one and gay, had been planning his birthday

for months. The guest list carefully locked away; there was that real threat of

decapitation to consider. However, he could no longer find peace by avoiding

life.

how old is need,

how knotted are the corridors

of loneliness?

Imam, there is no angel

with an orange by my bed

His friends gathered by the poolside, each with his past shut in him like the

leaves of a book, eyeing the uninvited guest snapping photographs. 

freedom is a fire

that runs like a staircase

up then down—

my lover's lips the color

of soft-skin mangoes