Rhetoric For Grief by Chinedu Gospel

what's the antibody against

grief ?

is it a man carrying the earth in his

lungs stifling? or

a man pouring his sins into a

lavatory filling weightless?

or a man that bends his body

into a bow & arrows lamentation

to the sky until a bird is hit

& descends into his mouth singing

birdsongs? & when the stench of sorrow

overrides his body he plants roses

in the tomb of his shallow fists

waters it with the droplets

of his tears & garners grains of grief

I am afraid of what

extent of grief pulls a man

into Judges where he becomes both

captive & captor like

a body that refuses to slide into its

shell for safety

in the name of grief a man hangs

himself with a knife in his hand

he baby-sits himself on a chair bed

stretching his breath until it’s long

enough to crossover the night &

still survive tomorrow

perhaps grief is not a pathogen

but a kind of gas that poison our

oxygen & leaves us gasping for the

bittersweetness of life.

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Chinedu Gospel is a young Nigerian Poet. He writes from Anambra. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Nantygreens, Praxis magazine, Rising Phoenix, Eboquills, African writer, Fahmidan journal among others. He tweets @gospel79070806