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CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

t:be walls in my room

are suddenly Rimbaud.

they reek grey and beige,
encase flesh.
Alec at Artur
build a divider.
my brother's fingerprints
are yellow with green stems
smearing as they
claw for entrance.

maman whispers,
"Alec, boys don 't cry"
"Artur, boys don't
kiss boys"
"je ne sais pas"
"je ne sais pas"

"Haman, I have
cried over dead

fingerprints,
conmdtted incest,
eaten the poet's brain"

--Rick Roeker

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