Nzulezu
Gabriel Awuah Mainoo
Kaku has no faith in rain─ no one
prays for water here. despite
the ire of drought that
lick the skin of water dry.
So here, we learn to become silent,
grow stoic─ master the art
of contentment. learn to sigh
in the fury of deluge & canker. turn here
to the whiff of heating swamp
swirling behind the lush reeds. Thomas,
born a missing child; twirls, twirls,
throws his d’locks back in ignition
gnawing through the warm stench
remembering the requiem of a snail burial.
for the ritual of a torn language. this
is where he chants. for safe landing
of scabrous heels. lost. between Senegal
& the turnings of midnight journeys.
this supplication, not for cassava
nor sprout. but for penance; the water
we tried to burn. for tomorrow’s turpitude.
for the unborn child’s dream, raised on stilts.
I am speaking of miracles
of water; for artery, for vein─
litanies of whispering torrents &
the magic of a burning wind.
prays for water here. despite
the ire of drought that
lick the skin of water dry.
So here, we learn to become silent,
grow stoic─ master the art
of contentment. learn to sigh
in the fury of deluge & canker. turn here
to the whiff of heating swamp
swirling behind the lush reeds. Thomas,
born a missing child; twirls, twirls,
throws his d’locks back in ignition
gnawing through the warm stench
remembering the requiem of a snail burial.
for the ritual of a torn language. this
is where he chants. for safe landing
of scabrous heels. lost. between Senegal
& the turnings of midnight journeys.
this supplication, not for cassava
nor sprout. but for penance; the water
we tried to burn. for tomorrow’s turpitude.
for the unborn child’s dream, raised on stilts.
I am speaking of miracles
of water; for artery, for vein─
litanies of whispering torrents &
the magic of a burning wind.
Gabriel Awuah Mainoo is a Ghanaian writer, poet, editor, & lyricist. Winner of the 2021 Africa Haiku Prize, Singapore Poetry Prize & the LFP/RML/Library of Africa and the African Diaspora chapbook prize, he's the author of five poetry books & the forthcoming Sea Ballet. His writings have appeared in Wales Haiku Journal, EVENT, Prairie Fire, Best New African Poets Anthologies (2018, 2019, 2020).
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