je suis charlie

je suis jihadist

je suis laughter

je suis murder

Ever since God cauterized my lips

with a lump of coal

I haven't known what to say,

so I swallow the cigarettes I smoke

to keep the fire inside alive.

I draw naughty pictures 

in the margins of my holy books,

I heave smutty magazines

into the belly of the sea.

je suis french

je suis arab

je suis free

to use my hands

I admit 

to being too eager;

I couldn't wait 

to try out my new gun.

Ask the people 

in vigil with candles

on the sidewalk

what is sacred…

I don't believe 

a word they say,

but everything I read

to the letter is true.

je suis charlie

je suis jihadist

je suis both sides 

of the revolution–

the tender neck

just as well

as the guillotine blade.