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Portrait of a Body as Spring by Emmanuel Mgbabor

Portrait of a Body as Spring | Emmanuel Mgbabor

 

Unlike other Saturdays, it’s spring in my body,
& the vines creep through the church of my ribs 

as green wires. Just like that. Tiny daffodils 
sprouting in my nostrils. Sometimes, I leave 

my window open just to hear God combing 
through the forest. Trees as grandfathers

choreographing in the rain. If you were here 
earlier, you’d see the purple gazelles darting 

through the garden in my chest. Once, I fetched 
tap water in my palm —a pool of liquid mirrors—

watched it permeate, silvering into see-through
hands. Pink clouds. Pentatonic rain. A body 

alkaline enough to grow cherubs for mushrooms. 
On blue nights, bumblebees flood my living room, 

thinking the chandeliers as fluorescent hives—  
a smorgasbord of paper termites bumping against

the crystalline bulb. Again & again, my mouth overflows at each miraculous touch. Lips sharpening 

marble lips into edible blades. Brows wrinkled
like broken roads. & God fetching laughter 

from green branches. Outside, the moths become 
bubbles of daylight in my faux beard. & I 

would tender your face like a gold goblet, 
drinking all the dead butterflies & the rust & 

the miniature birds & the green universe pouring 
out of your eyes, filling my lungs with fresh water. 

Mgbabor Emmanuel Chukwudalu is a Nigerian poet and a member of the Frontiers Collective. His works have been published and forthcoming in various magazines and journals, including The Shallow Tales Review, Augment Review, My shuzia magazine, Poetry column, Icefloe Press, Evokelit, Walled City Journal, Olumo Review, Indigo Lit, Wrongdoing Magazine, Wine Cellar Press mag, The Good Life Review, amongst others. He tweets @literati22.