SELF-PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN’S HEART PHOTOED AS FRAILTY

I taste the world a gore-stricken soul, feebling in the things that clang relief

In this room where delusion is a safety pin, bird’s wings never learn to fly and
the heart of a woman photos as frailty.

Isn’t a woman, fragments squealing in blotched skins? a blister with the
face of a pustule? & this femininity, a wingless bird where flight is a figment?
I’ve reteached my tongue not to take forte in the invocations of love calls.

I still scribble in rough parchments the beauty of heartbreaks, where my lover’s
flatteries are a pellicle of blindness. I’m a scalpel in the hands of a craftsman and the
dissect is a starked anatomy of love. But the threnody verses of a girl carpenters
illegal ideations. Why does reminisces yoke us and unyoke us with things jingling

familiarities? enamouring griefs is ethereal, wetting my reins with the tintiness
of liquors and inebriation. Isn’t it soothing to heal in broken pieces?
Gosh, relief is like a sea of drunken immersion where new birth is intoxicating.
Mama used to say a broken heart heals in broken pieces, and here I am,
preening piety for the growing thing that tags along with goodbyes.

About the Poet

Chinemerem Prince Nwankwo is currently an undergraduate of History and International Studies, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria. He is an ardent member of The Rotaract Club of University of Uyo. He loves to read and write about Africa, women, and children. However, he sometimes delves into the writing of grief, loneliness, reminisces, hope, and also exploring christian themes. Even though, Arsenal FC wouldn’t lift the Premier league trophy this season, his love for Arsenal remains unswerving. If he’s not knitting thread lines of emotions and empathy, he snuffs relief with sleep, meditations, prayer walks, and hanging out with friends. Say hello; CP Nwankwo @ FB, nwankwo.cp @ Instagram.