All posts tagged: poem

Degrowing Knowledge Or Where Do We Go When Glory Outlives Us?

Published by

We were gloriousIt was us against the worldThe world being the opponent thatnaturallywas collateral for us residing here When we held the sky hostagegreedier eyes looked to the cosmosSetting up a franchise on a planetthat wanted no partin the plotting of gargoyles Broken grass and stupid treeswhen bees became goldSupply met demandAnd ever so graduallyoctogenarians as scarce aspure oxygen Turning and turning and turningsomehow everything observes a loyal orbitPlotting and scheming and planningsomehow we are the orbitless A ray of sunshinefalls upon the ones who feel too deeplyand strangely it refracts against the purity of frustrated resistanceilluminating a tired caravanto the shrinking possible When the date palm accommodates the windand the coasting bird negotiates against nothingnessWhen two opposing waters confront without bleeding into the otherperhaps they teach ushow to degrow and rebuildeverything we know Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu is a poet and writer based in London. She is author of the chapbook “All The Birds Were Invited To A Feast In The Sky” and has been featured in the publication The Drinking Gourd, The Black Explorer, Amaliah and …

The Moonlit Cabin

Published by

after Izumi Shikibia and Nizar Qabbani Dew kissed ferns unfurl in silence. Sea relentlessly blankets shore. How many times will I betray, only to find myself in this mountain’s shade? You watch as I fade into forest. The earthly scent of cedar stirs longing. My every footfall, in any direction, can only lead me back to you. What gentle hearth this stillness is,  nestled in your arms again. Wind and rain reduced to memory Caressing this cabin’s windowpanes. Nothing, Save the full moon’s light  Can reach me here. it’s all ephemeral except the One Rooted in the rainy Pacific Northwest, Efemeral’s multilingual written verse and spoken word performance entwine reflections on faith, language and the human psyche. Her latest English works have been published in the anthology, “A Kaleidoscope of Stories” published by Lote Tree Press. She has pieces in anthologies by Rumi Center for Spirituality and the Arts and was also published in The Puritan’s 2019 issue, “What Does It Mean to be a Muslim Writer?”. Her Arabic poetry is currently featured in the …

Stuck in Traffic Salawat

Published by

اللهم صل وسلم على الذي يسعى إليه كل من ضل السبيل عدد أنوار القوافل والراكبات وعدد المسافرين ‏والقادة فمن تمت رحلته جوار الحبيب فقد رزق في رحلته بكل ما أراد we who have lost our way pray: Ya Allah, send Your Peace and Blessings upon our Compass our Northern Star  our Drinking Gourd  as many times as there are lights  leading caravans and cars headlights and stars and as many times as there is light on the faces of travelers and wanderers for we know, whosoever concludes their journey by his side has reached a destination  sought by every guide it’s all ephemeral except the One Rooted in the rainy Pacific Northwest, Efemeral’s multilingual written verse and spoken word performance entwine reflections on faith, language and the human psyche. Her latest English works have been published in the anthology, “A Kaleidoscope of Stories” published by Lote Tree Press. She has pieces in anthologies by Rumi Center for Spirituality and the Arts and was also published in The Puritan’s 2019 issue, “What Does It Mean to …

Eyes At Half-Mast

Published by

“Professor Okong stared on the tabletop with lowered eyes; like eyes at half- mast.” ~ Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe With his weary rising the purpose has almost been completed  Eyes at half-mast and salt and pepper strands  bear witness and testify to the being that will soon seep from a clay vessel soon pass into the void of the night  Milky eyes have begun to reflect a shroud  that no one else sees the stomach subserviently takes  the shape of a swollen gourd  and all the while the soul has been planted  roots as sturdy as ripened cassava  and heaves with the yellow fruit  of twenty thousand fervent prayers   from the last third of darkness Later this library will decompose and leave the sweet fragrance of a strange memory and an even stranger heart Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu is a poet and writer based in London. She is author of the chapbook “All The Birds Were Invited To A Feast In The Sky” and has been featured in the publication The Drinking Gourd.

A Colony of Ants

Published by

the avenues of loss don’t get any fewer this side of living. to the pilgrims who cling to the rope by one halal haribo. when in childhood wonder we learned to multiply and divide we didn’t account for those exponential paths to a seventy year hollowing or that one indivisible road less travelled. to the promised land. to the seekers who collapse with the weight of revelation until the banks of beating hearts and tired translucent skin stretches to accommodate the latest transgression’s emotions. for those this side of living. perhaps the honey of a magnanimous word will be harvested where the grass is most definitely greener. perhaps a colony of ants pour to devour the sweetness that will pile in your hands. here’s for hoping for a blessed sleep. because barely does the eye adjust to tentative light only to be swallowed by darkness again. here’s to praying and wishing. here’s to us, the class of this millennium somehow surviving three darknesses, somehow becoming the clay niche where the sun sets. Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu is a …