By Jaachị Anyatọnwụ
skinned knees & runny nose
undersized shirts & patched shorts
bible recitals & chin-chin prizes
fanta. 5alive. chipitos. papa ajasco.
emeka’s carefree loitering
lit by the beautiful glow of
soothe-plastered kerosine lantern
amina’s coy grins, a rare mixture of islam
& the crush on an igbo boy
childhood memories
it’s no wonder how we live with those flashbacks
of childhood memories that trigger nostalgia, and leaves us sneezing in nasal bliss as we inhale the aroma of rainwater on dust echo throughout our lives, the way the town-crier’s gong chase after his voice with every ‘kpom kpom kpom’ in forms of singsong lullabies whose refrains and rhymes reminds us of the good old days of immaculate innocence.
these memories,
they make up the thread that knit us into fine fabrics of retro paintings. a monologue of symphonies that swim in the fluid of sound waves, off our lips, into the hungry ears of our offspring, as we sit sage-like, retelling, recounting, rehearsing, rephrasing, reliving the stories that shaped us permanently into legends of near perfect masterpieces.
Jaachị Anyatọnwụ is a poet, editor, and publisher living in the suburbs of Aba. He is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks and collections including ‘Write Me a Poem’, ‘Sweetness’, ‘Amina’, ‘Scriptophobia’, ‘Creating Lead Generating eBooks’, ‘30′, etc., and the Editor-In-Chief of Poemify Publishers Inc. He is passionate about discovering new voices, and also a fierce advocate for the boy child and sexually molested. Facebook: https://facebook.com/jaachianyatonwu Instagramm: https://instagram.com/jaachi_anyatonwu Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaachianyatonwu