HOME AND THE ELEGY OF WATER [2 POEMS] by Mathew Daniel

HOME AND THE ELEGY OF WATER

i watched the cable news—watched
water swallow cities whole—watched cities
breed unsung elegies in homeless faces

i watched a river saddled with debris ridden by chaos—
watched it drift a fleet of feet into wandering—
watched homes wade through a thicket of water

i watched children point to strangers as neighbours—
watched them sail into roads—
watched them sing a ballad to loss

‘I want to make home a reverie—
build a nest in the road
that way, I know I’m going home

the question asked was, where is home?
everything is fetching loss, home too
is fetching the loss of memory—of bodies

enveloped in the sea. your body dripples with
tears, sweat, fear, your skin too becomes
a wet towel licking the remnant of flood

home—a memory of where we run to,
now a memory of where we run from.
the road too becomes a shelter
when home is lost to angry water

POEM 2:

AS FOR HOME

If ever hope will hatch
it partly would be yolked
with little dreams yoked
to the embers of this ruin
time would blow over it
the way smoke shadows
above fire until it ascends
the way lacerated bodies—
buried in gory graves
ascend with the scars
of our pleas.

Short bio:

Mathew Daniel is an undergraduate student of Mass Communication in ABU, Zaria. He’s also a volunteer reviewer with Writers Space Africa Review team. His poem ‘Chronicle of the beginning’ made the winner’s list as third runner up in 2020 for Shuzia’s maiden writing competition themed ‘IN THE BEGINNING’. His poem has featured in the WSA magazine. He tweets @_MathewDaniel_ and can be found on Instagram @thismathew_