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.