For H

 

I stare at the petals, frozen in a jpeg file.

July winds cut through my skin

like the first time we stepped into a night;

 

arm in arm, your want vined with mine,

your name in my palms, mine in your mouth,

our bodies nestled behind our classroom block.

 

Sweet predator & lovely prey. The night

in its mercy for forbidden things stretched

its wings to keep us from tumbling over.

 

The night housed our planting,

our sprinkling of raspberry seeds

& our milking of millets.

 

The ryegrass sang to our feet,

our breaths: meat and fruit.

Sensuous watchers of a goat fleshed sky.

 

Half winged angels, cicadas & katydids

listened in on a familiar hunger,

their synth, a botanical response.

 

I look at this picture till it grows into your spine,

extends a hand & gathers me.

This way I go towards you.

 


Chiedozie Kelechi Danjuma is a Nigerian lawyer and writer. His essays and poetry have appeared on the Guardian, Rising Phoenix Review, Boom lit, and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @kelechi_dozie