Kaveh Akbar

The Lilies You Brought Home Were Truly Lovely But

they disintegrated so quickly
              and to be honest what I really
need is luck and lots of it good
              or bad it seems to evaporate fast as
alcohol on skin and then what’s left
              is mostly just atoms is my fat pink
tongue I always pray when I hear
              an ambulance I wish all parties on board
a bit of grace on their worst day
              for this goodness I deserve praise
I deserve shower sex when-
              ever I want it and after that
for someone else to scoop the hair
              from the drain I command you to
recognize my dignity to pin
              a medal to my forehead we can
stand together in the winner’s
              circle I’ll let you wipe away the blood

Kaveh Akbar's "The Lilies You Brought Home Were Truly Lovely But" can be read in the print edition of The Arkansas International 2.

Kaveh Akbar's poems are forthcoming in The New Yorker, Poetry, Ploughshares, Tin House, and elsewhere. His first full-length collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, will be published in Fall 2017 by Alice James Books.