My Father's Last Sentence
Standing under the salty and wet sky
you let raindrops pin you to the ground,
as one to whom speech was a stranger;
untouched by time and the evening wind.
None of the diseases of the Egyptians
panic attacks, angst, and frenetic gasps,
scattered your bones or cracked your nerves,
while you stood there facing a nervous nuzzle.
I have heard tales of your military valour,
how you stood before the barrel of a gun
and forced a gun bearer to lower his weapon,
not even your nerves and heart broke down.
How you wrestle with the area commander
when he came to your house to conscript you;
how you climbed to the top of the coconut tree
with bottles of water dangling from your arms,
How, under the barrage of bullets and Ogbunigwe
you rushed into the bush to give us the news,
that our mud house went down in the night,
with no help from the gods you seek every night.
They let the rancid stench of rain detain you
though they knew we had no other shelter.
I saw your salty fingers in the side of my eyes
and believed that you must be wearing clay feet
And the mud of your heart and lonely mind
was eroded long before we visited the world.
Now I see how the tales of your bravery
dissolve before us like the walls of Durukwu River,
Through the rough handling of our brothers
who could not fight against the storms of the Niger,
you clenched your teeth and hit your fist
against the wall, as though silence is an answer.
.Jonathan Chibuike Ukah’s poems have appeared in Ariel Chart, Atticus Review, Zoetic Press, Unleash Lit, Sublimation, Pulsebeat and elsewhere. He won the Voices of Lincoln Poetry contest in 2022, and his chapbook manuscript, “The Last Anger of Man,” was longlisted for the Kingdom in the Wild Competition 2022. His poetry collection, Blame the Gods, was a top 6 finalist of the African Diaspora Award 2023.
Pulsebeat Poetry Journal 