NO / KNOCK

for Breonna Taylor

your name on signs / on stone / engraved / strange how locking
letters in rock keeps them alive / maybe miracles are real / how
else could hands waved over a cup turn wine into blood / the
wafer as it touches the tongue changes fate / or it doesn't / either
way in the moment it feels real / we repeat your name until /
repeat / there was no knock / no time to pray / say no / they call
black magic a hoax / yet they try / how they try / to erase you /
no / is anything more dangerous than white men / realizing
they’re not / the center / of attention

Margot Douaihy, PhD, is a queer writer and editor. Her work has been featured in PBS NewsHour, Colorado Review, and Madison Review.