TW: Blood, self-harm, sharp objectsdribbling from my mouth,onto my chin – limpid drops –a torrent of blood.over cracked, pale lips,a parched tongue hovers, joltedby crystal iron.a shattering wailescapes the void in my soul;piercing through the sky.my blood-spattered teeth,glinting – sharp and sinister – bare a dark, sanguine smile.

The summer of 1996 I accepted a travel assignment in Oklahoma City; it was a year after the Oklahoma Bombing.  My sweet Mama grew up in Oklahoma and I wanted to see where she had grown up because we’d never got an opportunity to visit.   I promised her I would do a road trip to McAlester and Wewoka her home town.I always dreaded the first week of a new project because all the females got togeth...

Belonging to the Shia community, my exposure to blood was not out of the ordinary. My fear of blood and gut communes to this one splash of blood over my face during Ashura (~2009). This fear triggered an unconscious attraction to blood that has vampirized my work. The investigation of this love-hate relationship with blood continues.