Okoro Emmanuel Chukwuebuka is a creative writer and a passionate volunteer. He won the 2019 edition of Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize (Junior Category).

Replicating Dead Figures

I’ve watched father light up a match stick__

and paint his world with darkness.

His dead lips,

rumpled shirt, teary eyes;

of pain, regret & cigarettes.

He buried his eyes in the ocean, 

as he watched how the dolphins play

in the midst of chaos, with a taunt of disgust.

My today was his yesterday.

He shot glances through the mirror_

facing his cap towards my future.

Bending and shaping me, at every 

default_

to look perfect before the world

sees me.

I saw him as a speechless figure;

whose eyes grill my flesh before

a (pounce) – a heavy diet he served

in mother’s plate of grief/ until

her exit.

He found solitude in these trenches,

feeding milk of knowledge, and diluting 

gins of poverty.

I saw the bad light.

The errors of a devil who loves dearly_

pruning his seeds to grow beautifully

in the midst of thorns.

I craved for his absence,

while others dreamt of a long-

standing hero__

a legend and more.

Today, I’m a roaming

bird seeking a home in my body_

to breathe, live & exhale.

This heart keeps failing, after

passing through this same path_

the burning bush; which guts after a lit.

I aced my father’s fears, with my lungs

longing for death call.

Contributor’s Bio

Okoro Emmanuel Chukwuebuka is a creative writer and a passionate volunteer. He loves art and is inspired by God and nature. His poem ‘Emergence’ has won the 2019 edition of Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize (Junior Category) and He is a Joint winner of the Feast of words (FOW) on-spot writing contest 2021. His works have appeared in literary collections, magazines and anthologies. Find him on Instagram @_theceo

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