what Mahmoud told me

Mahmoud told me
that he would never go south
of that North American nation demarcation

Mahmoud told me
that he refused to be pigeonholed
by the bald eagle

Mahmoud told me
that in the land of opportunity
Muslims eat off tectonic plates

Mahmoud told me
that no patriotic platitude
could hide his skin tone from the police

Mahmoud told me
Canada is not heaven
	but Canada
	sees him as human

Mahmoud told me his story
as we inhaled the mist
that rose up from Lake Ontario
and into our canoe

© Scott Alain