Photo Credit: The Atlantic
after the aneurysm, every lost thing bears a new name
verily, i’ve lost all till i’m only left with a hyperbola-shaped silence twice the size of
an exit wound, and i know not how to label this misery, so pardon the weight of this
poem for i’m still learning how best to carry it, only that it carries me too, to places i
do not know. sings my soul into psalms that defile humanity, my identity. and god? he
watches with a grey visage shaded in disappointment while i still cannot tell if it was i
who turned my back against heaven or the heavens did so to me.
believe, i’ve lost everything. i’m now losing myself. a therapist asks why i’ve allowed
silence eat me this deep. i beckoned her closer into my heart’s wound like a probe,
showed her the name of aiyah written inside of me, told her how she used to be my
aorta before the aneurysm raptured within. ever since aiyah left this space, i’ve
become a miscellanea of unwritten elegies. i stare at the stars every night, not to listen
to their little secrets, though. their scintillate only remind me of her, how they hold the
same beauty as her smile. yet, i count their numbers in multitudes, measuring them
according to the pains she blessed this boy with. now i know what love does to one’s
body, and mine no longer wants to bear so burden. dear tranquility, kiss me
softly, fondle yourself into this body till i sigh every ache away.
here, the therapist takes my hand, asks that i bide farewell to lost things, and give
them new names, letting them find home elsewhere. thus, i begin by renaming myself.
Contributor’s Bio
Daniel Aôndona is a lover of arts and culture. A versatile, award-winning writer who hails from Benue, Nigeria. Based in Abuja, he is a member of the Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation, an alumni of Sprinng Writers Fellowship, an editor at Pawners Paper, and Words-Empire Magazine. Aôndona is a spoken word artist, essayist, short story writer, reviewer, poet, and literary editor. His works have been featured on notable journals such as: Paper Lanterns, Brittle Paper, The Muse Journal, Poetry Column NND, among others within and outside Nigeria.
You can connect with him on social media: FB: Daniel Aôndona, IG: @aondonadaniel.30, X: @aondonadaniel30
