named for queen Calafia
from khalifa from caliph,
my love is muslim at her core
carrying jasmin & date palm with her
i was born hers, in a stolen land
of milk and honey. jannahic
are her oases, meccan her temper
her sands crossed by parents
caravan of vagrants transients homeless
exiles awelcome. what else is Blackness
beyond a pilgrimage from ash?
our bottleblonde hollywood mother
(permissive, permissible, halal)
lets yajuj & majuj pigs & dogs
run feral through Hidden Hills
lets the quakes rockabye us all
bathes in brimstone & smokescent
& we no longer know who to follow
let each tsunami wash as wudu
let a new variant of faith blaze & bloom
let the mahdi be born tan, soon
here in the home of all sunsets. here
we stand at the end of the earth,
all eyes on us. here is where i shall die