...for Thapelo Makutle

All throat now…..already brighter than the stars.

I could hold you in my song. Sotto voce, tremble

against me: a breeze slips in, cools my blood

to garnet…..bed stained with stones, cold and finally

useless………..I Orpheo,…..I lyre. Down river, even damned

with hum, there is room for your cry in my mouth……Sweet,

sweet sotto voce, I sang your moan until…..the machete

swung…..then I kept singing. I eyeless,…..I eternal.

The guards hold blades to the sky and cut the dark open.

Do you hear me raining……….from the wound? My tongue

is a kingdom……You live there.

—Saeed Jones

About the author

Saeed Jones is the author of the chapbook When the Only Light is Fire (2011, Sibling Rivalry Press) and poetry collection Prelude To Bruise (Forthcoming 2014, Coffee House Press.)
His work has appeared in Best Gay Stories 2013, Guernica, Ebony Magazine, The Rumpus, Hayden’s Ferry Review and West Branch among other publications. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers University – Newark. He is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer / Arts / Mentors.
He is the editor of BuzzFeed LGBT and lives in New York City.

Related links

Gentle man’s brutal murder turns spotlight on intolerance

Thapelo’s service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6piy1aBJzQ

Thapelo’s funeral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRhrQC3VgI