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.