On the way home, at Yaqoobi
circle we hit that hard right angled
turn and got the truck stuck like
we have about a thousand other times.
That turn always tricks somebody.
We were working to clear the wreck
when Hakmal’s truck behind us was flung
high, flipped as if by an angry djinn, gone
in a storm of smoke and bloodflame.
The great Khan shook his head and shrugged.
I knew then we were going to have
a really long fucking day,
even as the stars’ cold distance
told me dawn was a long ways off.