Nobility of Blood

Nobility of Blood

Dear Lord, this Thanksgiving

all the drug-lords promise

to thank you for AIDS, although

it has not made them transcend

into the 21st century. They are

still caught up in superficial things

like money, BMWs, and killing.

We thank you for tent evangelists,

brothers and sisters alike,

breeders of hate crimes,

that reject the perfect beauty

of homemade remedies

and blood transfusions.

Lord, forgive my arrogance

toward the medical community

and appoint faith healers

to pharmaceuticals. Dear God,

thank you for allowing me to live

on the periphery of society,

where nobody asks yet everybody

tells.  Thank you for the innocent

illusion of my open exhibitions

of affection toward Omar. Thank you

for the rapid spread of HIV 

in Africa, where water, food,

and medical supplies have always

been scarce or costly, where rape

and violence towards women

is beyond control, where children

have no choice but to fight

for brutal warlords, where life

and death no longer belong to You.

Somalia, have you learned to die?