poetry

  There: at mile twelve we stopped at the chattering of some small trees, distant against the low sky doubling itself across the shallow waters of the swamp. What kind are they? I asked. Ibis? Egret? Heavy in the brush, … Read More

  It’s the boat I choose for transport into the new year I lie down in its hammered gold, my right shoulder against its curve From this posture, I will study stars, meteors, Milky Way and any way I trust … Read More

  I’m the object I am and at times I’m another and am far sitting in water and sand in an echo of burning tongues And dream, yes, I dream the colossal adventure of the human word stabbed and drunk bleeding in memory of the dead who seem … Read More

  Some regrets take the air, almost visibly, bright against the mind’s wide sky. The child you never had, for some reason red-haired. The way you said goodbye to your first real girlfriend. The boy, the bicycle, the stop sign … Read More

  Dec. 18, 2013, Akure. At night, inside the reflection of a halogen lamp, I told my younger siblings A story about our dead mother. I told the story, my siblings swayed on a swing; forward and backward. Backward: my … Read More

  Now day turns ever November as the schoolyard iron and plastic of slides, rings, ladders, and bars stab into the backfat of a grey sky and the children dropping in play upon the mulch are but mulch themselves to … Read More

  There were enough leaves around my feet to bury a child.   A second moon had been predicted,   but looking up through branches, I saw only bones   pricking through the floor of a nest—   their existence … Read More

  drifted to the broken sidewalk— you know the place: past First Ward school (where AA meets now) but before the crest of the hill, before the road narrows so only one car can pass at a time. It was … Read More

  People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I don’t know if I believe that. Your hands moving over the blankets were the last indicator of want. Want is where the soul rests. It could be … Read More

  I go through her buttons: that population of immigrants, some humble, prepossessing, some big, shiny hemispheres like the golden dome of a Shiite mosque. Some are eagle-embossed, tarnished from combat. One is tortoise shell to which a pittance of … Read More

  I can’t tell you how happy I am to announce how happy I am. No, really. I can’t tell you— I have no mouth, only the skin of my chin curving up into the twin caverns of a mundane … Read More

  Remember this one? Narcissus vs. Pond in a staring contest? Wind riffles water, Narcissus declared winner. Enraged pond pulls out hidden revolver. I don’t remember it ending like that either. But when the lake I happened to be dating … Read More