Portside

Prayer for Anything but Prayer

for Omar Mateen

By Chris Emslie

I have felt Florida

like a man’s hands

on my shoulders

felt thumbs

in my clavicles

compel my whole

body to the ground

I have offered

myself to gravity &

been laid open

along the curve of

a root I have been

overcome by light

overcome by song

overcome by wanting

& I have been that hot

kernel of rage have

been a room with

too many walls

have been a bandana

between my lover’s teeth

I have let another

man’s mouth take

mine & been quickened

by it I have put my limbs

in the way of danger

for the sake of collision

I have lofted noises

at my own end & been

shouted down

by nothing

I have profaned

I have holied & if god

be willing I am not

done being undone

Chris Emslie, who also goes by Kit, is assistant editor at ILK journal. Their work has appeared in Permafrost, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Kit lives in Tuscaloosa, where they are an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama. Find them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chris_emslie