WATERWALLS
It begins with Kahlo in a picture
here, she is letting her eyebrows grow
into themselves. & here too, a boy
does not see how he breaks your heart
he citizen, you foreigner standing only inches from him.
Like the necessity of shadows overlapping
he says into Kahlo’s face
The lighting here is good for pictures
so that inside you feel what it is
your ship sinking . . .your sea caving under the weight of dreams
& these waterwalls in a chest of flesh.
Some days, they rise so high
it is impossible not to feel what you are or
see, again, how a Pharaoh drowns running away
from his waterwalls towards you,
without chariots
how a woman waits on the border
to cross a red (already) sea
without her staff&papers.
Here, you see this standing so close
to the length of your own shadow
so close you know what it feels like:
All the caves of a body’s silence . . .
Waterwalls
It begins with Kahlo in a picture
here, she is letting her eyebrows grow
into themselves. & here too, a boy
does not see how he breaks your heart
he citizen, you foreigner standing only inches from him.
Like the necessity of shadows overlapping
he says into Kahlo’s face
The lighting here is good for pictures
so that inside you feel what it is
your ship sinking…your sea caving under the weight of dreams
& these waterwalls in a chest of flesh.
Some days, they rise so high
it is impossible not to feel what you are or
see, again, how a Pharaoh drowns running away
from his waterwalls towards you,
without chariots
how a woman waits on the border
to cross a red (already) sea
without her staff&papers.
Here, you see this standing so close
to the length of your own shadow
so close you know what it feels like:
All the caves of a body’s silence . . .
______
Kechi Nomu is a writer and editor. She tweets @KemNomu