Telephone Conversation With My Crush About Scars In The Quiet Night
—Nweke, Benard Okechukwu
Telephone Conversation With My Crush About Scars In The Quiet Night
centuries ago, i learned from a bird
the next burning forest the metamorphosis
of becoming, so much that sometimes,
i purchase depression in form of risk
to test-run the heart in case
the cyclone carries roofs off houses.
because the readier the heart be, inside out,
less the gravity of wounds when they hatch.
because independence is dependent on
the quantity of scars.
because playing safe is not staying safe
until you spend nights less a prayer warrior—
into a baby babysitting in blankets.
first, in the interview granted my crush,
she catechized if depression was at the last door.
i mumbled how the door closed even
before my reach. how fire lurked
in place of light; in search of light.
& i hissed into my pillow. quite. frugal—
frugal telephone conversations with
the rest in the other end, unknown.
but, i don’t know if silence is gentility
as much as i know silence is grief
in search of comfort. & i don’t know, too,
if i satisfied her. all i know is,
every question is a prelude to
self-assessment.
About
NWEKE, BENARD OKECHUKWU (he/his/him) is a Nigerian poet. He is the winner of the 2022 Neptune Prime Poetry Prize, and was shortlisted for the inaugural Akachi Chukwuemeka Literature Prize. He is a penultimate student, photographer, and trainee journalist at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. His works have appeared both in print, and online in the West Trade Review, Querencia Press LLC, World Voices Magazine, Kalahari Review, The Ballast Journal, Art Lounge, Muse Journal, Nigeria News Direct, NND poetry column, Rogue Agent, Mad Swirls, & others are forthcoming in the Quarter(ly) Press. He tweets @romeobenokechukwu.