Chisom Okafor
hymn to the bowstring
“given affliction, the body will find a way;
the body will turn itself to music.”
─ Joseph Fasano
at times i like to imagine that the rains made branches
hang more heavily so that some swept the dust
that would soon become a burial place for an offspring of leaves
my lover knows the principles of death as rationale
for this floral survival phenomenon
wherein a cycle has to end for another to commence
sometimes i want to admit to feeling the weight of the world
stockpiled in my head but he calls me hashashin
which means bound in perpetuity to hashish which means creed
which means bowstring sworn to its archer and to the holy act
of destruction i say destroy this body
and before nightfall I’ll raise it up which is to say i want
this body to love in the gratifying way of sideways rain that levitates
with the monsoon at daybreak and leaves flower funnels
water-logged and longing to unfurl at noon again for another chance at light.
Chisom Okafor is a Nigerian poet and clinical nutritionist. His work have been nominated for the Gerald Kraak Prize and a pushcart prize. His debut full-length poetry manuscript, Birthing, was a finalist for the 2021 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
Return to March 2022 Edition
“given affliction, the body will find a way;
the body will turn itself to music.”
─ Joseph Fasano
at times i like to imagine that the rains made branches
hang more heavily so that some swept the dust
that would soon become a burial place for an offspring of leaves
my lover knows the principles of death as rationale
for this floral survival phenomenon
wherein a cycle has to end for another to commence
sometimes i want to admit to feeling the weight of the world
stockpiled in my head but he calls me hashashin
which means bound in perpetuity to hashish which means creed
which means bowstring sworn to its archer and to the holy act
of destruction i say destroy this body
and before nightfall I’ll raise it up which is to say i want
this body to love in the gratifying way of sideways rain that levitates
with the monsoon at daybreak and leaves flower funnels
water-logged and longing to unfurl at noon again for another chance at light.
Chisom Okafor is a Nigerian poet and clinical nutritionist. His work have been nominated for the Gerald Kraak Prize and a pushcart prize. His debut full-length poetry manuscript, Birthing, was a finalist for the 2021 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
Return to March 2022 Edition