BRITTLE

I have a name too fragile to break
when it falls out from the mouth.

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I am unweaving the pills stacked
in my tongue. Mama put it there –

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she called it prayer. She said, when
you fall short of grace, lick it until you

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can taste forgiveness. I butterfly –
squeeze nectar from a girls bosom

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it blossomed into a rose. Rose into
a poem. Hitherto, I only knew the

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softest part of the body was the heart.
But what is softer than a face that breaks

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with a smirk just to prove that everything
is fine? What is softer than the hand that

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gropes in the dark for its shadow? What is
softer than a name that doesn’t answer to

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itself? What is softer than the word brittle?
What is softer than me?

 

Anambra, 2021

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Chinedu Gospel is a young Nigerian Poet. He writes from Anambra. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in The Rising Phoenix, LUNARIS review, Rough cut press, Eremite poetry, Feral poetry, Poetry column NND, Eunoia review, Sledgehammer lit mag., Rigorous magazine among others.

 

www.instagram.com/gospelsofpoetry

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www.twitter.com/gospel79070806

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