Genesis

Joshua Effiong, Nigeria

& the sun rises with apricity, dislodging
the gloom posing as oxygen in my bloodstream.
I remember the night I soaked myself in moonlight,
and prayed my bones into copper wire, anticipating
the transfiguration of my body into a galaxy of stars.
my mother's mouth is a thesaurus housing the synonym
for light. she preaches about the multifaceted nature of
grief. how it first feels like a sharp prick, & then, sorrow, &
then a knife slicing your bowels, & then, a hand stiffening
your breath. oftentimes, I take short walks outside my body
to examine the flowering scars with cracks, emitting soft
radiation of glory. every morning in the family devotion, mother
would lead us back to Golgotha, back to Gethsemane, back to
when everything wore the pride of luminescence; back to
Genesis. & I wonder why God shares the first letter of his name
with them. today, mother will pray me into daylight, into the
embrace of Hymns and Psalms. & like a flaming candlestick
in procession with the wind, I, too should be able to archive
a slice of the sun for days when the night chooses not to leave.

Self-portrait As Celestial Bodies

Joshua Effiong, Nigeria

Say, the body of a black boy is the sky
housing the sun, moon, & stars. His feet

is a metaphor for wind. If you cut him open
you will see photons of light glued to his blood

vessels. When I took my first breath, mother
named me Uwana which means bright—that

my body is a compartment of crystals, that I am
the proof of the theory of fluorescence. Come,

pull a strand of my hair and watch it sparkle.
Does it mean that I am immune to gloom?

When I mouthed my first full word, it was mother
who first heard it, her eyes glowed with excitement

as she began to teach me how to harness the energy
in me. She would say, dear son, the colour of your skin

isn't a replica of what you embody. It's been more
than two decades and this has never left the tongue of

my mind. If today the sun is caged by dark clouds and
at night, the moon withholds her light or the stars go

into hiding, I will present myself—their replacement.