brother's head/father's sacrifice— Chukwuma Eke Pacella Chioma

 

brother's head/father's sacrifice

— Chukwuma Eke Pacella 

now home has become a city 

of lost bones and falling waters.

i wonder what god thought 

when (s)he placed souls on the metals of hunger; 

i mean spinning out the humanity in them 

listen, i know brother's body is hidden 

somewhere in father's heart 

perhaps father had traded his blood for noodles 

when his cv turned into rotten papers 

perhaps he had been loyal to the call of his stomach, 

became an abraham 

and led brother into the woods of sacrifice; 

isaac died after all. 

now mother still looks at my neighbor as though 

he has the smell of demonic altars 

she says her son lays in a corner of that boy eyes 

but i suppose she is too much of a weakling 

to search

father's own eyes and heart.

now pastor jay performs exorcism

on my innocent tongue because i told mother; 

that night brother slept outside forever,

i had seen father with a machete 

and brother's head

and the food we ate.

Bio:

Chukwuma Eke Pacella Chioma is a seventeen-year old Nigerian poet/spoken word poet and short story writer. She is the winner of the cradle poetry contest, 2021,Joint winner of the Feast of words on-the-spot writing contest,Intra-Essay Competition,2020

,Ist runner up for the FOW spoken-word competition,2021 and also the Ist runner up for the Teen Author Prize(Poetry Catergory) 2022. Some of her works have appeared or are forthcoming on the synchronized chaos magazine, The Poetry Soup magazine, My wovenpoetry magazine,IHRAF and others. She also has some of her poems published in book anthologies like The Pixie&Pexals anthology, Roses for cancer warriors and My rainbow Poetry Collections.