Yearning the Heavens’ Tears by Pacella Chukwuma-Eke (Day 26 of KSR 31 Days of Poetry)

“someday, we would kiss waters…” OKO OWI OCHO

 

The Desert and this soil
resurrected from the belly of the same creator.

The rats, the cactus, the brown snakes, and I
have adapted to the tastes of our own sweats

because this home is after our bodies—
a spacious vulture longing for the carcass of my sons

and their sons’ progenies. Sometimes, we fear the sun.
I see the gore my people now harbor on their lids

as they throw dirgeful stares on this hollow/
what used to be the sea, and I plead for the moon instead.

And someday, the heavens would text back.
Someday, the waters would love our bodies

the way we love its warmth. And when God decides
to lend us his tears, like he did our ancestors

we would kiss waters
without fear of the sun, or the next drought

or the next time we have to draw out our own piss
to keep our children away from the dryness of the ground.

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Pacella Chukwuma- Eke, NGP Xv, is a Nigerian poet, short story writer, and bathroom singer. She is the winner of the Cradle poetry contest, Abuja Duet Slam, Splendors of Dawn Poetry Prize, two-time finalist for the BKPW contest, and Joint winner of the FOW Poetry Contest. She is the author of Love in its bliss and sins; runner up of the 2022 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors(Poetry.) Some of her works have appeared or are forthcoming on Eunoia magazine, Strange Horizons, The Brittle paper, Rigorous magazine, Haven spec, and elsewhere. She is a member of The HillTop Creative Arts Foundation, tweets @dancing_poet, and can be found on Instagram @pacellachukwumaeke.