Chinedu Jonathan Ichu
Three Poems

LIGHT IN HIS SMILE

There is always so much of an angel
Living on every mother’s scarf
Who speaks in their fears?
It knows and will glow
When it matters even more
Threads of thin silver strands
Rejoice at the feet of cherub sons and daughters
Love i have professed
What indeed is returned?
A dove and poetry wrapped in a ribbon
A story that will one day tell.



RIVER EUPHRATES

There must be healing power someplace
You close your eyes to our demands
Set sail frigates without worthy occupants
Instead, your tongue only licks our toe
Driving us into oblivion
Has our land not ridiculed us enough?
Has our tears not flowed unend?
We’ve decided to borrow more from suckling ones
Take a look at this chaffed palm
Striking hard on hired tambourine
Last night...
They spend endless days cursing dry bones
Where was their mouth piece?
Drunken inside a trance
That thrives in wickedness
Label on empty schnapps bottle reads:
Our elders are wayward
What covenant drove them wild on our behalf?
Dark clouds curl all over dozen of portraits
We were not even fetus yet
This burden ate up ignorant bloodline
Embrace our waters like the days of old.




FAMINE IN PLACE OF BREAD

Beautiful crystal
Soaked in worn wheels
How is it your land smiles?
No more than long gone Hiroshima
Your name still lingers at the tip of your lip
It gazes back into a magician’s top hat
Nothing seems ready for departure
Hungry landmines feast from naked carcass
Exhaling black soot from iron lungs
Let us all fall into the sky together
Before we bury our now sacred soul
Our words mean nothing
Only blank noise.

     
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