Flourish Joshua

mannequin

you are all that mercy has forgotten.
       you shift the curfew, bless the wounds—
they still wouldn't dance into light.

      your gods have given up on you.

there is nothing awake
in your house.     you, a torturous bone,
songless name. how do you dance
       with a broken feet?

your legs wobble when they try to run
the miracle race.     there,
grace is pulling you out of itself

the way your father jerks off his concubines.
      how do you bless the wounds
with a cursed mouth?
        your mouth

a calligraphy of impossibles, limbs
      the shape of a demon's yawn.
you give yourself to the mirror, it sings
     you into a shadow.      tell me

you are not the cough of a graceless thing,

        I will show you
how counterfeit a prophet you are.
    your knee a poisoned arrow,
all it does is prey     before a trap.

      In the near,
a wolf feeds on your joy for dinner.
    your scar    backsliding to its wound,
  your shadow     begging to know no light.

you plant your name,   water it with faith.
    you read Matthew 11:28 into a river,

              & get yourself drowned.

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Flourish Joshua is a Nigerian poet, a member of the Frontiers Collective.