Poetry
African Speculative Realism
In the silence – a gourd
In the gourd – a mask
In the mask – a prophecy for the unborn
In the prophecy – a storm of retributions
In the storm – a woman kneeling with a knife
In the knife – a proverb patiently waiting to be spoken
In the proverb – a python singing of swallowed empires
In the song – a mountain of bones hoping again to be revived
In the mountain – a burning city, streets paved with unburied histories
In the city – a cracked throne, all its treasures and heritages carted away
In the throne – a stone with a heart of flesh, blood boiling in its veins
In the stone – a mother’s eye weeping, watching from exile
In the eye – a bush fire refusing to be extinguished by water
In the fire – a flight of birds migrating, wings caught in electric wires
In the bird – a secret written in Nsibidi, Ifa codes for the watchmen
In the secret – a road forgotten, deliberately left out by cartographers
In the road – a river brimming with the corpses of dead narratives
In the river – a shrine of mirrors built for the forgotten gods
In the mirror – an oath unbroken by new language
In the oath – a riddle for the architects of movement
In the riddle – a craft made of iron and clay
In the craft – a dream of new un-fallen worlds
In the dream – a child planting trees on the moon.
Soonest Nathaniel
Soonest Nathaniel is a poet, digital media strategist, broadcast journalist, and spoken word artist. His poetry collection, Teaching Father How to Impregnate Women, was selected as a winner of the RL Poetry Award. His second book – Burying The Ghost of Dead Narratives – was published in collaboration with the British Council. A Rhysling Award and Pushcart nominee, Soonest was selected in 2023 to be a fellow of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa; he was also a 2021 Langston Hughes Fellow at the Palm Beach Festival and Poet Laureate for the Korea Nigeria Poetry Festival.