—after reading Aremu Adams Adebisi
(to be read from right to left)
listening are you that it take I
.worries and bones, dreams my you before unfold I as
Senator Nigerian a that heard I, night last television the on
.Germany, Nuremberg at beaten and circled was
it about feel to how know not do I
long so for down held is pain when :sure for but
:happened what was it believe I and. bursts it
.country their in flaunting crows the for disdain their showed people a
how see to only everyday cubicle my leave I
only can you an―become has everything bad
.swallowed get you, else or. distance a from it poke
.it about word a cough will nobody, I mean. nobody and
rich become and steal thieves that is here thing sad a
:them praise and them see people and .mean I politicians the—
.am bless don God
everywhere siren go I me remembers He when and
arrive don I say know go everybody
!am make go no I say wey person fire thunder
.imagined than deeper is say to trying am I what, see you
me visits father my when dreams my in
.mouth my in news bad carry only I because shut keep I
walk evening my during playground the pass I
.heads children’s over halos perforated find and
.elephant mourning a like down peel I, there right
.coats collard in ghosts see and distance a at look
To read this and more work by China Ezenwa-Ohaeto order a copy of the drr issue of Ritual here..
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (@ChinuaEzenwa) is from Owerri-Nkworji in Nkwerre, Imo state, Nigeria and grew up between Germany and Nigeria. And always grateful to the poets who has influenced him. He has won the Association Of Nigerian Author’s Literary Award for Mazariyya Ana Teen Poetry Prize, 2009; Speak to the Heart Inc. Poetry Competition, 2016. He became a runner-up in Etisalat Prize for Literature, Flash fiction, 2014. He won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize for an unpublished poem, 2018 which took him to Italy. He was the recipient of New Hampshire Institute of Art’s 2018 Writing Award, and also the recipient of New Hampshire Institute of Art’s 2018 scholarship to MFA Program. In 2019, he was the winner of Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize and second runner-up in the 5th Singapore Poetry Contest. His works have appeared in Lunaris Review, AFREADA, Poet Lore, Rush Magazine, Frontier, Palette, Malahat review, Southword Magazine, Vallum, Mud Season Review, Bakwa Magazine, Salamander, Strange Horizons, One, Ake Review, Crannòg Magazine and elsewhere.
