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As a child I watched my father speak to God, morning and night.

Before his bed, he kneeled and pointed his head at the world.

Half-way, he fell asleep with an open mouth to take back his words.

And it was when I imagined his prayers started praying him.

I tried speaking to God, but my body kept growing into silts.

When I slept I didn’t think the world slept with me. I wondered if

God my father spoke to saw me through his prayers. For

Those nights I sat by my cousin’s grave and held her hands

And watched the sky twinkle my body as song written from the back.



Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto is from Owerri-Nkworji in Nkwerre, Imo state, Nigeria, and a lover of literature. Recently, he won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize for an unpublished poem, 2018. And some of his works have appeared in Lunaris Review, AFREADA, Raffish Magazine, Kalahari Review, Praxismagazine, Bakwa Magazine, One, Ake Review, and Crannòg magazine. You can find him on Twitter @chinuaezenwa.
Current Issue
8 Jun 2026

But I am no king, no man. It is a role I assumed in serving, with perfect order, those who scarcely saw fit to name me. Wild and shimmering, I hide from myself no longer. I was born twice from death. It is time to mend what was broken, even if they will not.
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They took the verse... and translated its grief into a new alphabet.
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