.
Bodyslide
kill a dance & enjoy
your body stands
like candlelight
because this is a bag of echoes—come on,
now that you have drunk too
much silence, book
a forest, days
as recent as breath is
the only person that can carry
to your shadow. A lot
is not seawater, a lot is my journey
from birthday to languages—a
sound comes by
midnight & you say mid
night is for self, up
there, only a raven
knows my first
name; to get that
song out………………..song out
…………of black nylons
………………….out
……………….schools
.
Tales
are roads
following broken
spider legs?
because her
voice no longer
enters their shoes
is the light through
with seeing inside
a raw egg? or
have the people
planted apple eyes in
their prison yards?
.
Skydiving
………….there are different colours
………….when we go out
………….of our eyes near
……………………………………………………………a
guitargirl: non
……………………………………….dit is a field in
………………………………time with moon
……………………light—when a tree is
…………drunk, we can
…………………………………………………………….find
another
……………………………………………………place for
father
………………………………earth—when
……….there are no
…………………………………………………………….ghosts
inside
……………………………………………………his suitcase,
you
……………………………………….know he wore
………………………………moonlights
.
Languages
i do not chew fruits
that i cannot pronounce
garden
whoever made
my body, first
drank a moon
revival
it is open & close
to fire, it will body
along midnight’s
circles—next
time you will
cry, she replied
material
it is written on bodies
that clocks will
not age nor
listen
flying
& shadows
in the attic
are sisters
because
sleeping
changes every
body from
lines to
a quiet family
.
—David Ishaya Osu
.
David Ishaya Osu (b. 1991) is an Afo native from Onda. His poetry appears in: Vinyl, Chiron Review, Cutbank, The Lampeter Review, The Nottingham Review, Spillway, Juked, RædLeaf Poetry: The African Diaspora Folio, A Thousand Voices Rising: An Anthology of Contemporary African Poetry, among others. David is a board member of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, and was selected for the 2016 USA Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. He was poetry editor for The James Franco Review. David is currently polishing his debut poetry book.
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