WHERE I COME FROM
by Nome Patrick
—01
I’m a little flute player who hangs the memories of home in tunes
and let them dangle gently on the neck of meek melodies
So each time I sneak into silent nights to weave a song
I find shards of memories littered everywhere on notes…
—02
I’m from a town where children sleep to wake into beautiful dreams
And their laughter plants hopes in the soil of every clan
Like the light fingers of our gods planting fire in the hearts of the wicked
And throwing them into a bed of skulls and bodies of witches and wizards
Whose death offerings mother earth never accepts, so they are left
to the economy of wild vultures and weird flies.
—03
I’m from a town where parrots lend Old women their tiny voices
So they sit under the spread hands of Ogbono trees to tell tales
of Okonkwo, the Axe of War and Amalinze, the cat that never cries…
To blooming angels and sprouting archangels as fireflies swap
into the body of the night where crickets draw an art of chirps.
So we all sit silently and soar into the hearts of the tale-teller
to pluck didactic leaves from the tree of her wisdom.
—04
I’m from a town where Nightingales lend us sonorous voices
to chant canticles of heroes hovering in spirit lands
And sing folksongs to the widened ears of the night,
Where moon swirls up above our heads, like we could touch it,
And stars wink to the plays of children,
and tear into night discourse of the elders,
and peep into the smiling face of women’s pot soups.
—05
I’m from a place where small clans are a big family
finding lives in epistles of pastorals and episodes of traditional cultures.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nome, Chukwuemeka Patrick is a poet, writer, deep thinker and incipient editor who’s crazy about women, children and art (for the mysteries surrounding their natures). He’s a sophomore studying English language and literature in the University of Benin. His works have appeared or forthcoming in magazines like, Kalahari review, Poets in Nigeria(PIN), Parousia magazine, African Writer, Praxis magazine, Kreative Diadem, WRR, Dwartonline, Tuck magazine, Antarctica journal and several others.
