Marc Tretin’s most recent poem to appear here was “In a Dream She Will Never Recall, My Ex-Wife Speaks to Me About Our Adult Daughter” (September 2018). 

The God of Assassination Responds to Maya’s Prayers
By Marc Tretin

The God of Assassination Responds to Maya’s Prayers.
You called me, Kherty, the protector and slayer.
With random death and healing, I drive men to the gods.
But you who know my secret name,
you who said it into the silence
between your systolic and diastolic beats
Of your heart, have asked me to slay
your lover, Jamaal who came all the way from Cairo
to see you. I will partially grant your wish.
Jamaal will ignore the pain in his left shoulder
and ignore the sweats he feels on the ferry in winter
or his vagueness as he stands before blank-faced freshmen
who’d rather click candy-colored dots or Angry Birds
on their laptops as he presses a pointer against
a pull-down map to show the location of various pyramids
as his voice gets weaker, so much so he must sit down
and cancel the last half hour. He will think some bed rest
will heal him. This is the best I can do.
He’ll be too ashamed to limp over to you,
so he will retreat into his books, but every day
with slurred speech, will repeat your name.