Portrait of copying with a new beginning | Choolwe Lubaya

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ISSUE 7 | JULY 2023 | TRANSITION ISSUE

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It never leaped

in your mind that

earth will devour

your husband

two days after

your wedding night.

Claimed by his car

on his way to work,

he left you

with a daughter.

You do not know how

to cope with this new incense

of loneliness—

the kind that robes your joints.

You tattoo

a sprouting flower

on your arm:

it helps shoo off

thoughts of your neck

dangling down a rope.

You feel his

presence for a second,

and you wish the

phantom feeling could

have stayed

a little longer.

You hold your daughter

tight;

a moment that teaches you how

to tear grief

into tiny shreds.

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Choolwe Lubaya

Choolwe Lubaya is a poet from Zambia. He writes and reads when not held up by life’s demands.

Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash