Na'amen Gobert Tilahun

marsyas

ugly boy who only wants to be more
he is every single one of us
those who reach for the sun and receive burns

we cry for him every time we cry for ourselves
every bruise and every cut a memory
that our skin, if nothing else, is still our own

here in his river-blood, here in the shade of his skin-tree
we feel his ambition, his skill, his joy
we remember that his skin still dances, and his reeds still play

sit beside me and dream of the boy who only wanted more

Na'amen Gobert Tilahun writes. The things he writes have appeared in/on io9.com, Queers Dig Time Lords, Stone Telling, Full of Crows, The Big Click, faggot dinosaur, Spelling the Hours, Eleven Eleven and others. His debut novel, The Root, was published by Night Shade Books this past June.