My grandfather’s hand was a leaving song;it was cold, like my mother’s kitchenwhen the utensils languished in idleness.Lines ran through it like a crumbling labyrinth,a million slanting roots of plants and vegetables,which he caressed and spat on open wounds,and wounded souls during his hay days,when he was the masses’ healer, their hero.He looked at me,... Continue Reading →
By Jonathan UkahSeptember 22, 2024 We walk down the streetwith joined hands, twined hearts,staring at the darknessengulfing the closed shutters,shoppers trooping out of shops,mothers shouting at playful children,tugging at husbands’ arms;father’s watching the birds perchon grey roofs with shadowy chimneys,watching girls chatting at the edge of the streets,eyes at the gap between now and tomorrow,listening... Continue Reading →
It was a sunny day in June,the first day freedom danced,licking a stick of Vanilla ice cream.She was beautiful like the moon,tall like a giraffegazing through a rooftop,a half-shirt skirting her breastslike the cock of a bottle;a pair of black pantsthrowing her butt out into the air;two spindling feetmounted on a skateboard;two rings on her... Continue Reading →
I set outbelieving I was going to land in Heaven,that I would pluck plums from the sky.Here, the roses have withered,oranges rotted;the ground is hard, uncultivable,earth’s crust shattered soil,split into dry slabs from the sun’s anger.For many days there was no rainand the air was dry and hurting,sparking slices into peppery noses,into troubled waters.My sister... Continue Reading →
I was sitting on the fielddrinking tea on a low stoolwhich I bought at the flea marketthe other day I went round the cityvisiting fellow hungry artistswho threw their workshops openfor all to see and wonder.The flea market was on my way,and I digressed since it was sunriseI saw this ancient, grey stoolwith legs like... Continue Reading →
