FEAR

a brushstroke of blue water
the signature of oncoming rain
a powdered face resembling the
body of a morning sky
children who run out to play
are meat in the sun
our stories are big envelopes
filled with mail from last night’s
scandal
a brushstroke of blue water
drapes my hair
my hair is a cloud running Southward
a variety of things happened
in the south this morning
one of such things is the dismissal
of our rights as fronds of one palm
it drapes my hair
it throws my memory of freedom
into water
and
the jinx of not being born twice
breaks on me

—————

TO THE GIRL NURSING A HEARTBREAK

see,
it is an orange
morning,
pain is forcing itself
through the mouth
of the sky.

life is too beautiful to girls,
they spend milk carelessly,
they wash love off our minds
with bad water
and
basins cracked with tough
inscriptions.

a small war
started on the other side
of this coin,
a true friend buys the day
before it breaks,
boys will be mere shadows
to girls
till they learn
to hold the whole body of an atlas
to themselves

it is a world
of lies,
men to women,
women to the children
of their tommy,
it will lead us into a ghost town
on that day
that very hour
light will swallow our household
in one gulp

—————

Poems (c) Goodnews Mememugh Karibo
Image: Unsplash.com