Just as how every first step had sealed us damned, he had sealed this thing between
us— this living, dying thing — with that ring. The one that gripped the finger—
fiercely— as if, all this while, it had been in wait, in hunger. The one carved into that
angel of the night. Eden’s wondrous creature. Membranes drawn, taut, squaring off against
the chrome world. You see, I loved that ring like a spectator. How we look at the painting
and forget the painter. Forget his years
of loneliness and salt. Ask the butterflies.
Even they, too, will tell you transformation is not without its agony. That thing equalling
life and death. That is to say, I may jettison from this rock. That is to say, I may plummet
to my demise— but what if I soar? You must forgive me. I will take this chance, I have
spent enough time worshipping the sun. And must I remain as a caterpillar— eternally
wretched, forever without flight? I cannot continue in this curse simply because of my
evolution. I will become like the bats. I will become the bats. I will seize the birthright of
the gods, and carve on my own nature. This back cannot remain achingly empty if I am
but merely blades away from grace. Yes.
Look at the poem and ignore me. Ignore
the bloodied knife, the painted blade. In every wound lies the promise of an artwork. I have
torn open the scar of my flightlessness. I am making a painting full of life and blood and
flesh. I am calling it wings.
Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe
Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe, Swan X, is a budding poet from Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He has been published in The Cloudscent Journal, Serotonin, Isele, The Dawn Review, Poetry Sango-Ota, Poetry ColumnNND amongst others. He is the winner of the 2024 Kukogho Iruesiri Samson Poetry Prize, co-winner of the 2024 Poetry ColumnNND Chapbook Award, the 2024 Folorunsho Editor’s Prize for Poetry and a finalist for both the 2024 Kofi Awoonor Poetry Prize and the 2024 Dawn (Review) Prize for Poetry. You can find him listening to his favorite singer Lana del Rey, or writing poetry. He tweets @mesomaccius.
Photo by Nicolas Lysandrou on Unsplash