BECAUSE OF SEX

we       the children of the goddess –
born of water and oil

our river-skin flows
toward the clouds named after an insect
to taste our scarlet pollens       at night

as the cedar-tree-hair on our noses rises
toward certain red lips entangling kisses

we       the children of the goddess –
born of water and oil
earthed       unquaked       at dark seasons

our brown bodies       ethnicized     
spread-eagle in the colorful sun dropping

from the ceilings      our white shadows slinking
inside us at once scared       of being counted
like a lost vote       and

after borrowing a finger that points       skyward
points downward at a riotous smoke of vengeance

like Abel’s       waking God
waking us to voices forming rain
to whisper      forming fiery thunder

we woke       at dawn       face-down
on the edge of the friendly Atlantic

sunshine hugging our salty skin with yellow ash
we       the children of the goddess –
born of water and oil

picking dust       forgetting that raspberry seeds
grow on our virgin breasts       ripe for harvest

our moonlit faces to soon grow orchards
we       the children of the goddess –
born of water and oil

 

Bola is a Nigerian-Canadian poet residing in Winnipeg, MB. His poems have appeared or forthcoming in a few poetry magazines like Cleaver, One, The Nottingham Review, The Puritan, The Literary Review of Canada, Sierra Nevada Review, Poetry Quarterly, Miracle E-Zine, Poetry Pacific, Drunk Monkeys, League of Canadian Poets (Poetry Month 2013), St. Peters College(University of Saskatchewan) Anthology (Society 2013 Vol. 10), Pastiche Magazine, and others. He holds a degree in City Planning.

 

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