POETRY
My Body as a Book of Bible Stories
a bat lies cold in the ark on the pulpit sitting on the grave inside of me.
moonlight wasted it, like Noah forgot her in a recent flood.
the roof of my body snows more than the winter here in Florida.
a foreigner boarded a part of me & begged half his refund.
the last Frisian girl who dated me grew stone-cold and blu.
nothing escapes the weather forecast aired on my bones.
even me, i dread to stop by what is left of myself.
but life is worthless around here if you cannot tiptoe into what house your breath,
to loot snows for the world.
before now i was an ark cross-dressed in a synagogue of red,
the Israelites did not sell their brothers to gain the ten commandments in me.
i am forever indebted to the wood i am made of,
the scroll that holds God’s commandment & every other christian house left inside of me.
As Catholics, We Do Not Adopt God in the Right Fabric
As a Catholic, i melt each time we are asked to offer each other the sign of peace.
i’d prefer a righteous hug to gifting strangers with handshakes.
i do not want to be the one responsible for ruining the birthmark incensed on a catechist’s paws, in the name of Palm Sunday.
my palms are twice as harsh the turfs grown on the barren acre ridging on our Bishop’s brainbox.
i do not say this timidly,
i made them so.
coarse enough to rear the holy communion close to my jaws,
because its fluff still spreads through my tongue like wildfire.
it is our youth’s harvest today.
the chaplain says our burnt offerings do not char plain to adopt God in the right fabric.
he says, to deworm God in a global warming, you do not even need to overcook the sky.
the liquid cross nominated on my forehead bears me witness,
i do not dissolve to make my blood covenant in Christ potent.
the clergy says we are not gay in most sunday school manuals,
we are only cross dressers, hastily abluted on every rosary that necks virgin Mary in between
it’s thighs.
Nnadi Samuel is a 20 year old graduate of English & literature from the University of Benin. His works are previously published in libretto magazine, Ace world Publishers, Artifact magazine and a piece title “My girlfriend says she would die in a street lamp” forthcoming in Jams & Sand magazine. If he is not writing, you can find him reading out memes on Facebook @ Samuel Samba.
Photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels.com
Heart of Flesh Literary Journal 