The meaningless life of a poem
The way light lays against the wind& how the feathers of trees wing
off your back that artificial effect
in the poem like saccharine
sweet decaying teeth like old bone yellow
flowers in a dune migrant memories
of long treks & hump backed camels
begging waters all that river in your hurt
performance pain palette after palate
of ringworm skulls bleak eyes bleak
streets stupor drunk puddles falling
off boots oppression & suppression
silenced bodies stagnant streams
gathering debris on tongue speaks
speak to the wall to the light
packing insect wings fragile life
flickering paper kites birds
beautiful fauna of the sky sweet sky
see my ancestors smile in the ground
say it; sacrifice of clay pots & yam & alligator
seeds & chalk & meat of stories food
for the gods in your throat sing O
sing beautiful dawn child spirit
interjected into life become a chrysalis
crisis in a change what changed
in your skin? Cain roaming volcanic ash
of Jesus’ second coming come
into night see ancient worlds in
the poetry of sky this poem that
poem all the poetry our bodies can make
on the bed on the lampshade
a vase of flower aging again a gang
of overtures be you become
a pupae justified by God’s flood
ripening into a home for young
bodies to drown in a room without
windows blind see how God sees
drink the taste out of your mouth
holes in the sky in the ground
in your bullet wound residues
of violence in the shrine of your skin
the anthill attracts the masquerade
back to its prison prison is body
without faith without dreaming
dream of me falling & touching
nothing a void of dark places
darkness is also occupying space
nothing is truly empty
Osahon Oka is a poet. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and literary studies. His poems have been nominated twice for Best of the Net. His writings are presently on Lucky Jefferson, Malarkey Books, Feral Poetry Journal, Decolonial Passage among others. He writes from Edo state, Nigeria. He can be reached on Twitter: @osahonoka.
Banner Art: Archi/Stri(u)cture(s), a VISPO by Robert Frede Kenter (c) 2021. Twitter: @frede_kenter
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