remember there’s a field on fire, and that your brother
is not safe where you’ve left him before coming to this
mountain to offer orison. the stories always began with
once upon a time. but, the time is here. it never passed.
never folded with the night. you’re looking for a
way to fit into the blessed hour. just in case your tongue
has forgotten the gold in amen, remember that the cocks
pray to God every morning. now, you stare into the sun
without purpose. you, who used to carve hope out of it,
walk into its light, and trace your way around the globe. but,
now, hope is a fire that longs for more of your body
to stay alive. there’s a kid begging to be the sentence after
every punctuation in this poem. these berries in your
mouth —i know they are boys you wish you had longer
than the summer. just in case your brother was in the
flames, pray. ask God to remember your name. look into
the sun & follow until you find him —skin and not ashes.
Chinedu Gospel, frontier IV, is an emerging Nigerian poet. He studies Anatomy in Nnamdi Azikwe University. He finds pleasure in exploring diversified themes amongst which are healing, hope, grief, loss, resilience, political mayhem… He won the StarLit Award for the 2021 winter issue of Aster Lit. He also won an Honorable mention in the Kreative Diadem Annual Contest (poetry category). Some of his works have appeared or forthcoming in Fiyah magazine, Hoax magazine, AsterLit, Roadrunner Review, Savant Garde, Temz review, Roughcut Press, Icefloe Press, Agbowo arts & elsewhere. He plays chess in his leisure. While he tweets @gonspoetry & grams @gospelsofpoetry.
Featured Image by Daoudi Aissa on Unsplash
