"Oh, I can be such a mess when this world lets me" —Olatunde Osinaike
A bowed neck is the spice of my posture. Me, patron saint of curved things. Each morning I gulp God’s roaming air, my fingertips travel up the arch in my neck. The arch, mine. Wind bends the trees, God gave me this slope. The hump is dragged along. The weight equates to a cross borne by a mortal. It is a mountain I am carrying, tall headless suffering. When I walk to school, a troop of stares advance for a feast. Each step taken is fodder for those who watch. On the way to church, a bow connotes holiness in volumes. Faithfuls forsake their Christian God & direct eyes to the scene of me. Eyes trail me. Attention invents for itself an abundance & I abandon my walk today.
Michael Akuchie
Michael Akuchie is a poet of Igbo-Esan descent. Wreck, a chapbook manuscript (Winter 2020, The Hellebore Press) was selected by José Olivarez to win The 2019-2020 Hellebore Poetry Scholarship Award. He is a four-time nominee for Best of the Net and The Orison Anthology respectively. Winner of the 2020 Roadrunner Poetry Prize, he tweets @Michael_Akuchie and reads submissions for Frontier Poetry.
