I Saw My Dead Twin as Another
First, it was the growl signals from Isaiah. He
always sang me to sleep, so his sounds
that were a bit falsetto this time
didn’t cause my heart to throb differently.
Then, it was his little paws,
paws that comforted me when Ifedinma evolved into something
beyond this world, and shooting stars of the night sky and chest rubs
from Isaiah were the only thing that forced my lungs to work.
Falling deeper into a world that ordained me a traveler
and dreamscape, infinity’s planet,
I heard Isaiah low groans turn into frightened gasps and troubled barks.
I took a return ticket back to earth and
that was when I saw it;
Ifedimma, my lost twin with accursed eyes I wished to unsee.
Hello, Home Or He Finally Said Goodbye
The house spoke a denial of him ever living there and although
he recognized the walls that stole its color
from the morning sun and the roof that blended
with the sky on sad, grey evenings,
the garden that bred purple hibiscus had been demolished and the
white rose that had been pressed on the front door
to welcome their love, was now long gone.
He stared at the house that was once home to them, relived
the moments shards of glass pierced his heart as his entirety
begged him to take a step back and run down the street – opposite to pain –
and when the weight of her absence pulled him down, he nursed his wounds
with the billows of good memories that swept through the air.
The moment it seemed like the clock had finally stopped moving
to give him the time he needed, he looked up at the blue sky
decorated with cotton-candy clouds, brought his right hand soaked in
bittersweet tears to his lips plump from biting his pain in
and extended it to the cloud that was faintly lit by the fading sun,
sending a kiss to her.
Biography
Yvonne Nezianya is a young Nigerian writer, (performance) poet. Her short story, Wonders of Spirits, was shortlisted for the K and L Prize 2020. Her works have appeared in the Micah Anthology by Poets in Nigeria, Black Skin No Mask, Ethereal, The African Writers Review and elsewhere.