{"id":2481,"date":"2014-04-21T23:26:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T23:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/?page_id=2481"},"modified":"2014-04-24T02:05:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T02:05:59","slug":"dike-okoro-april-2014","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Dike Okoro, April 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

She<\/strong><\/p>\n

I see her every Sunday
\nwhen the testimony queue
\nheads to the altar.
\nHer feet firmly planted
\nbefore the congregation;
\nher eyes inwardly holding
\nan expression of elation.
\nRwanda’s pride and tears
\necho in her stories,
\na mother enters a room
\nhome to nostalgia when
\nshe pours intimately
\nover escaping on canoe,
\nbaby tucked under dress,
\nto survive genocidal attacks.
\nIf war had a teeth
\nyou could see the scars
\nof its bites when she spoke,
\nreciting a continent’s eulogy
\nfrom one country’s tragedy.
\nThe smell of refugee camps
\nshe has known,
\nthe smile of babies chuckling
\nto keep mothers alive
\nshe bears in a heart not alien
\nto the ugliness of emptiness.
\nThis woman not yet at midlife’s
\ncorridor, yet a witness to crimes
\nas old as creation stories.<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\nFlowers of Rwanda<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are here with us
\nin Chicago! They sing
\nof the rain in a distant
\nlove nest, they weep
\nsilently over nights
\nof terror & genocide.
\nThey dance without
\nbreak, to find sunlight
\nwhile still young. They
\nare vibrant like
\nthe pyrethrum flowers
\nof Ruhengeri; they are
\nthe seeds of the exodus,
\ndestined for morning’s joy!
\nRuhengeri: area in Rwanda noted for growing pyrethrum flowers.<\/p>\n

…..<\/span>
\nFragments (for Ethelbert)<\/strong><\/p>\n

He dreams of marrying women without hands,
\nThe ones he could spoon feed and sing to the world
\nA husband’s kindness under an abysmal sky.
\nHe warms his days with fresh plots for the finest
\nOf young women and trips to exotic hideouts,
\nWhere fantasy and liberty rule over conscience.
\nAnd yet his heart is a prison yard home to birds
\nBearing the sorrow song of the wife he eschews.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\nPatterns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where rocks wait for hands to pick them up,
\nI seek the sight of a white dove to comfort the heart.<\/p>\n

…<\/span>
\nTsvangirai<\/strong>
\nYour vision is the promise expected
\neach morning a rooster crows, and
\na homeless child on the streets
\nof Harare, resisting the will to run,
\nstares at the sun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dike Okoro’s poems have appeared in Witness Magazine<\/em>, Yellow Medicine Review, Pindeldyboz,<\/em> and Bolts of Silk<\/em>. He is the editor of the poetry anthology, We Have Crossed Many Rivers<\/em>. He teaches at Northwestern University, Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She I see her every Sunday when the testimony queue heads to the altar. Her feet firmly planted before the congregation; her eyes inwardly holding an expression of elation. Rwanda’s pride and tears echo in her stories, a mother enters a room home to nostalgia when she pours intimately over escaping on canoe, baby tucked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":934,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2481","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nDike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"She I see her every Sunday when the testimony queue heads to the altar. Her feet firmly planted before the congregation; her eyes inwardly holding an expression of elation. Rwanda’s pride and tears echo in her stories, a mother enters a room home to nostalgia when she pours intimately over escaping on canoe, baby tucked […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-24T02:05:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/\",\"name\":\"Dike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-21T23:26:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-24T02:05:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Archives\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Dike Okoro, April 2014\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/\",\"name\":\"Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)\",\"description\":\"Archives Of Previous Issues\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)","og_description":"She I see her every Sunday when the testimony queue heads to the altar. Her feet firmly planted before the congregation; her eyes inwardly holding an expression of elation. Rwanda’s pride and tears echo in her stories, a mother enters a room home to nostalgia when she pours intimately over escaping on canoe, baby tucked […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/","og_site_name":"Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)","article_modified_time":"2014-04-24T02:05:59+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/","name":"Dike Okoro, April 2014 - Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-21T23:26:48+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-24T02:05:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/dike-okoro-april-2014\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archives","item":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Dike Okoro, April 2014"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/","name":"Full Of Crow: Poetry (Archives)","description":"Archives Of Previous Issues","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2481"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2552,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2481\/revisions\/2552"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}