after mistaking a man lighting a cigarette for someone aiming a gun
Whatever it takes, rid it from my body,
that to which I have not given consent to enter,
this mindset, way of life
that hates life.
I will be pastor and pulpit.
I am the witch and the stake. Blind me
if all I can see is evil. Cleanse from me
this violence I’ve been suckled on, teet shaped
like a trigger. I’ll be the holy water and the basin,
prayer book and incantation, crucifix and rosary.
Cast it out of me like a devil, expel it
like a projectile. Even if after it deserts me
I’m a crumpled husk, nothing
left. Then, let me be empty, useless,
a chamber without its bullets.