#7

This sound of children singing the sun up
will shape every last Himalayan snowflake
echo off the mountains made in their own image
reflect back their voice in future ages
where their philosophy folds into wrinkles of face

#10

You are a temple of mud and soul
just like us                    an adobe of possibilities
a hollow of love, language and laughter
your body contains at least a liter of sunlight
and stardust                    radiating from every smile

#11

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

#12

The network of caverns inside my heart
has enough rooms for in-laws and aging parents.
Food by the foot, as we trek between
who we were, and who we are. Giving us
enough time together to turn freckles into folds

From the collection Prayer Flag Poems. Posted by kind permission of the poet.
Photo by darpan

Read Hakim Bellamy’s Prayer Flag Poems individually:
#7, #10, #11, #12


Hakim Bellamy
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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