Backroads
By Kashif Andrew Graham
I will always drive the backroads
for there I met the Lord
There he came to me
arms out
palms up
take me
come to me
know me
For there he came to me
arms back
palms
together in metal cuffs
I can’t breathe
For there he came to me
arms before
palms up
a golden hijab
this is my body
I could not see his face.
Kashif Andrew Graham is a writer and theological librarian. His reading and writing interests are queer & Black lit, the 1920s novels of racial passing, and the modern South. He holds a Master of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a Master of Arts in Church Ministry from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Honors Literature and Spanish Language and Literature. He is currently working on a novel about an interracial gay couple living in East Tennessee.