Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí

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Broken

A man’s enemies are the men of his own house. — Micah 7.6

There are songs we make with the broken canoe 
of our mouths; others we gather like fragments 
of rain. All I wanted was to live— to believe this 
day, & the next; rising shadow, sinking light. All
things bright & beautiful. Every which way I ran,
there was a blade waiting. An arrow tightly drawn
—too. They said move; they said groove. For what
do you need my blood? In what room in my life
can I enter & feel warm, held close, beloved? Son?
Here, knife. There, scissors. In what way did I
                                                misjudge the cowries?

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ERNEST O. ÒGÚNYẸMÍ is a writer, literary journalist, and editor from Nigeria. His work has appeared/ is forthcoming in AGNI, Southern Humanities Review, Agbowó, and elsewhere. He currently studies for a BA in History and International Studies at Lagos State University.