Anti-Psalm
by Joshua Effiong
say amen, for the throat of a black boy
can still flute melodies. in the beginning,
all was void and darkness was home. & by
1:00am there's a resurrection of threnodies.
the hallelujah of his heartbeat rises to
saturate the space between his belief for a
miracle and the many ways a body withers
from within. he allow the cold breeze kiss
these ageing bones and orchestrate its cracklings
into lullaby for the demons his my head.
tonight, hearken unto the sacrifice of his
supplications. & unnail his voice from an
echo. lead him, oh! lead him to a place where grief
is rendered verbless. in this poem,
there are sanctuaries he enter to bath his lips in holy
water while these hands still crave unholy
things. perhaps this outpouring will only lead to unburying. &
to experience freedom is to drink a star.
how do you teach a bird the art of swimming when
her physique is chiseled & accustomed
to flying. in pieces he say his prayer staring at the
congregation of fireflies in his ceiling. tell
this black boy to weave his breath peacefully, tell him that his
eyes can still reflect a cathedral of light.
A Nigerian by birth and Studying Science Laboratory Technology at University of Calabar. Joshua Effiong is a lover of poetry & here he finds freedom. His works has appeared/forthcoming in Eboquills, Kalahari Review, Shallow Tales Review, Rough Cut Press, Madrigal Press, Warning lines, Hearth Magazine, Mausoleum Press etc. Author of Autopsy of Things Left Unnamed. He also find joy in photography and reading. Connect with him via Instagram @josh.effiong and twitter @JoshEffiong