EREMITE POETRY

SONG OF SURVIVAL

Josiah Osagie
​The blunt edge of the scalpel you purchased on Amazon sits in the perfect midpoint of your index finger, your forearm is poised for reentry, your mouth dry with anticipation. O, how you thirst for exultation. Quickening thunder of systole electrifies your nihilistic streak. The air in the room is still as steel. Silver salvation seethes your name. The canvas of skin between your wrist and elbow is as a Rothko painting: a dissertation in red, swift cacophony of cardinals, spirit cut down in anger.
 
You've been rusting
       for         too long
flaking away 
you,    beautiful boy,
son of a mother
        who sang
proverbs as she washed
 your infant hair
you,  vessel of unquenched
yearnings,
       gazer of unwashed
skies, crooner
        of birdsong,
you,    who dream     of long walks
through meadows of wooly thyme,       you
who dialogue with
winged insects,
eggshells,
letters scrawled in graffiti,
archival images,
sidewalk furniture
      and      other forgotten things
[you who would rather exist
than be remembered]
you      who,
   on this wretched effervescent noon,
           have resolved
not to die. 

Picture
BIO:
Josiah Osagie is a Nigerian poet and psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto. He was born and raised in Lagos. He admires the colour blue and giggles at describing himself in the third person. He tweets @riceandplantain.
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