A Fulani believes herself inevitably a bird fullburn.
She will say she soon ascends, mistress over milks.
As to the superpower: Her second stomach a steel.
What? My bloodkind take active pride in tolerance—
of lactose—inheriting the Lactase Persistence Trait,
making-to-order Universe from 1 molecular milk.
Our insults involve enzyme—cowmilk curdles them
that lack. We digest dairies, we cattle herd, we bird.
I ask and it is explained to me: what milk has to do
with mass murder. I bathed in a bathtub full of full-
fat milk and never felt more a monster. The second
time you read the Bible through, it makes less sense
than the first, but still—try mingling milk & honey.
I deserve none of the good rife things got in this life.
To offer fresh cream on Saharan shrines is madness,
so we won’t do it. I fancy metaphors about Moon
and more. I do not remotely adore milk metaphor.
A light body alit in lait—life in lanterna ’til Aljanna:
In sha Allah celestia ever antiseptic/unsour. AMIN.
Copyright © 2026 by Mary-Alice Daniel. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 25, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
