Gabriel seizing the illiterate man, alone and fasting in a cave, and commanding read, the man saying I can’t, Gabriel seizing him tighter, commanding read, the man gasping I don’t know how, Gabriel squeezing him so tight he couldn’t breathe, squeezing out the air of protest, the air of doubt, crushing it out of his crushable human body, saying read in the name of your lord who created you from a clot, and thus: literacy. Revelation.

—’The Miracle’ by Kaveh Akbar