Will
If not for the jinx of death’s avatar
& willies throwing jabs & nescience
at clamant beaus bartering impossibilities.
i would have tailed the spring of immortality
& sipped from its overflow within a camel’s breath.
& like Methuselah. i would have beaten
time’s juggernaut & died like a god,
edified & eulogized in scriptures & songs.
Shadows & Rusts
how many times will i bleed grief
& throes into the mouth of this page?
how many times?
our dreams are on rags,
eating crumbs tossed to us by winds,
like madmen without homes
like flowers disrobed of its petals of honor
flickers of woes
dance on the stools of our shrines
& gods spit in the basket of our offerings
we are doomed
yeah! we are doomed
like the wimps that will sniff
the blood & fiery of armageddon
but we will rise
yeah! we will rise
above pain
above death
above shadows & sores
Answers
these spineless tears dripping from the eyes
of orphans trembling on the shore of time.
these lungs that reek of histories, battling to be told.
are knives that pierce the sinews of our peace
they are streams of blood drowning the silence
of our breath. once, i asked where & what is the
antidote of pain? i was told it is the antithesis of war.
perhaps, in the eye of a toddler? & its name is love. they lied.
Ajise Vincent is a Nigerian Poet. His poem “Song of a Progeny” was a shortlisted poem at the Korea-Nigeria Poetry feast, 2015. His works have been published in London-grip magazine, Eureka, Kalahari Review, Sakonfa literary Magazine, Synchronized chaos, AfricanWriter, Indian periodical, Jalada Africa, Black boy review, Literary Nest Review, Lunaris, Provo Canyon Review, PIN Quarterly Journal, 1947 Journal, Prachya Review, ANA Review, Asian Signature, Oddball, Indiana Voice Journal, Tuck Magazine, Harbinger Asylum and various literary outlets. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
