Bamyan, Afghanistan – 2001

yes I am saying it
my heart a scuffed idol
stones soiling my blood yes it is
pathological
yes
I keep photographs facedown in
2001 they broke Buddha they had
their reasons they say the UN came
wanting to protect
Buddha but Buddha
is has been dead
the children are have been will
be hungry and they were angry
yes
they were angry they said no they
said we will make you look at the children
behind
stone
yes maybe this was an excuse
yes maybe it was still is
true no I don’t
know
neither do you
if it casts a shadow call it icon
if it looks back
call
it God yes I relish myself
in silver in still water
yes
that myth he drowned
just
a myth we are past that
and anyway my
poems
have
no faces
yes I am saying it
my hair once
hidden now yours to see
yes it is pathological none of us
born by choice the angel said
read but you heard
look heard image
fine
look at his skin
bleached holy oh light man
tell me are
you not a shrine to those who failed
you oh painted face did I?
come I want you to
hear this from me
a secret
the Buddhas were faceless yes they were deanimated
to begin with
yes, choose another reason
a different excuse
one more secret
when you see my hair
you take my sins thank you
come let’s have
a parking dispute let’s talk
culture no
let’s talk kin let’s never forget
no this is who we are

Sarah Ghazal Ali is a Pakistani-American poet with roots in California. She is currently an MFA candidate and Juniper Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she also teaches composition. Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from homonym, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Waxwing, Wildness, and others. Find her at www.twitter.com/sarwwaa.