my anxiety compels me to write a hymn for myself or perhaps it's a prayer in verses
by Praise Osawaru
or perhaps it is the rosary.
when i step out under the morning star,
my shadow scowls at me,
so i retire & clip myself to an unlit corner.
except on Sundays when i go for the sermon.
the pastor breathes into my ears:
O, have faith & be steadfast. there’s light up ahead.
but how do i tell him i’ve seen a stream flow
from my wrists, yet i’m petrified of swimming.
i sit in my room & compose a hymn for myself
or perhaps it is a prayer in verses.
it goes like this:
oh, seeping fear, depart from me.
oh, enticing silence, let me be.
oh, undying insomnia, release me.
i recite the words over & over again
until it becomes a garment i muffle my body in,
but i still do not find quietude in myself.
it’s been six days since i last departed for the chapel
i ponder what the pastor will hum into my head tomorrow, if i go.
Mindscape
by Praise Osawaru
My mind hosts swirling imageries that speak,
& shadows that assume the role of paintings.
Some nights, I see my hands locked with faces
my flickering lens is yet to capture with its click,
still, my mind sculptures a masterwork with an unrestrained muse.
Like a poem not forced to rhyme, allowed to take its path,
roses bloom unfetteredly amidst a landscape birthed
within the canvaslike walls of my mind.
It’s crazy how I seek solace in the embrace of tethered,
but untouched souls that instill calmness,
when every day, thunder claps like the sound
of hundred waves crashing down on the shore.
About the Author
Praise Osawaru is a writer and (performance) poet of Bini descent. He’s a Best of the Net nominee with works appearing/forthcoming in Blue Marble Review, FERAL, Ghost Heart Lit, Glass Poetry, Kalahari Review, Rising Phoenix Review, Serotonin, Sub-Saharan Magazine, and elsewhere. He was longlisted for Babishai 2020 Haiku Award and shortlisted for the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize 2020. An undergrad at the University of Benin, Nigeria, he’s a Virgo who loves the strange and speculative. You can find him on social media @wordsmithpraise.