New Poetry by Akpa Arinzechukwu

I Wish I Never Saw This

I see you against the night landscape
Browsing through the shelf of darkness
Trying to find a book, no, a paper.
Perhaps, a sheet that has a teeny reflection of light
On it

The sky above you displays pictures
Of stars still considering whether to appear
Or not

I see you sitting in the empty street
Wondering if you’ll ever twinkle like a star
Or perhaps
Hide between two worlds
So far away without being spotted

Your likes that ever twinkled
Got killed –
Those gay men and women in the
Street at night vomiting their lives out
All day and the police find it a pleasure to say nothing

It is better to hide between two worlds
But
How can you ever live being who you aren’t?
You tremble in fear
Today not tomorrow, you’ll walk majestically to the cemetery.
Of course your type will always walk to the cemetery
At least that’s what your society believes

I see you against the night landscape
Browsing through the shelf of darkness
Trying to find a book, no, a paper.
Perhaps, a sheet that has a teeny reflection of light
On it 


- Akpa Arinzechukwu 2016

Akpa Arinzechukwu is a Nigerian photographer and poet. His works have appeared or will feature on Kalahari Review, Poetry Pacific, Fundza and elsewhere.