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Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar was born in Tehran, Iran in 1989 to an Iranian father and American mother; his first language was Farsi. He received his MFA from Butler University, and his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Florida State

Vines

by Kaveh Akbar (b. 1989)

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15

there are fat wet vines creeping into my

house through the pipes and through

the walls gentle as blue flames they curl into

my living there is ice in my attic sugar on my

tile I am present and useless like a nose torn

from a face and set in a bowl when

I saw God I used the wrong pronouns

God bricked up my mouthhole

his fists were white as gold there were

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