If I spell my name in bruised melanin

and ink                    across this mud and breath

made flesh             melt down these gold fillings

into an alphabet of love letters

would you recognize your reflection in me

From the collection Prayer Flag Poems. Posted by kind permission of the poet.
Photo by James Lee/Unsplash.

Read more of Hakim Bellamy’s Prayer Flag Poems:
#10, #12


Hakim Bellamy

The inaugural poet laureate of Albuquerque, Hakim Bellamy is also a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow and a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow. A National Poetry Slam Champion, Bellamy’s first collection of poems, Swear, was awarded the Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing from the Working Class Studies Association. A musician, actor, educator, television host and two time National Poetry Slam Champion, Bellamy has facilitated writing workshops and performances in schools, prisons, hospitals, community and senior centers in at least five countries. To learn more about Hakim, visit beyondpoetryink.com.

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Poetry