is to place merestones
in my chest,
demarcating graveyard from graveyard
where memories lie
buried, their deathless tongues still
singing through dust of skin
my chi, making my fingers dance to its strings
that to write poetry is to moonwalk
on terrains it showers
the weight of bones
whittled into plectrums
To call this body a country
is to summon water from wadis
to run free their tireless courses
down my eyes;
it is to tattoo the map of a warzone
on my birthmark;
to drive in the sweet tooth of grief deep in my body
bolting a cage of ravens
echoing and echoing in my throat
gunshots, and
a mother's hymn
seeping through a gauze gag.
Martins Deep (he/him) is an Urhobo poet living in Kaduna, Nigeria. He is a photographer, digital artist, & currently a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His most recent works have appeared, or are forthcoming, in FIYAH, Lolwe, 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Aké Review, Native Skin, Brittle Paper, Barren Magazine, Agbowó Magazine, & elsewhere.
Twitter: @martinsdeep1