On Finding the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Dante’s “Inferno”
By Omar Sakr
A lover undresses, with permission.
Picture the body becoming real.
I picture becoming real intimate.
It is strange to think of legs as closed.
I open my legs for strangers. I widen,
stretch. What belongs here? Don’t say a door.
Instead of belonging, I eat the door,
make an animal flap for the four-legged.
I’m on all fours. Ass slapped. An animal flap.
Violence begets. Love circumvents. I swallow
my would-be begottens. Love, this violence.
To all doormen I say ahlan wa sahlan.
Man, this door shudders. Familiarly, easy.
I undress permission with splintered hands.
