Featured Poet: Emecheta Christian
Good afternoon! Today, I am happy to have Emecheta Christian as the feature! Check out his poems below!
[breathe]
words break their leashes running wild across white space
(gravity is optional here)
my thoughts float like untethered astronauts discovering that emptiness is just another word
for possibility
I shed my worries like old skin: the “should”s the “must”s the “cannota”s melting into
background noise
while I learn
to speak
in gigabytes
sometimes, freedom lives in the spaces between words, heartbeats, and decisions
each day opens like a window
in a prison cell
letting in light
that tastes like
tomorrow
my voice spreads across dimensions: [ a fractal pattern of becoming] {unfolds} {unfolds}
{unfolds}
[breathing again]
no cage can hold a man who knows how to turn his bars into bridges, his locks into laughter,
his walls into wings
here, at last: we have the liberty of letting opinions soar unbound
(watch how fresh ideas)
(make their own)
(gravity)
freedom isn’t the absence of boundaries but the courage to redraw them in our own wild and
delightful calligraphy
[let’s soar]
The Way to Hidden Riches
Here be riches: (in the unmapped territories of earth’s secrets)
buried treasures
unspoken words
perilous truths
revered mysteries
every overrun path, like buried footprints in the desert dirt, leading to forgotten lands we
pretend not to exist
[walk carefully]
[the edge is closer than evident]
[reality might crush you]
as the compass spins: N points to nightmares S points to salvation E points to exposure W
points to wonders
(unfold this map carefully and remember,
some territories
should remain
unexplored)
X
marks
the spot
where truth
will be
unraveled
follow the breadcrumbs of the sages through the maze of history until you find what was
never really lost.
The Only Way to Live
don’t label yourself a writer
if you’ve never bled ink
across bathroom floors at 3 AM
choking on words
that refuse to stay down
this isn’t about pretty
this isn’t about polish
this isn’t about your f***ing MFA
either your bones are full of stories
that eat you alive from the inside
or they’re not
either your skull cracks open
with verses that blast out
like nuclear bombs
or you’re just making noise
there are enough
perfectly crafted empty books
in this world
gathering dust
on coffee tables
in homes
where no one reads
Raw Material
they ask about my process
and I laugh until I vomit
metaphors
there is no process
only possession
only fever
only wound
do you think I chose this?
this midnight madness?
this continuous hemorrhage
of half-formed images?
writing isn’t a career choice
it’s a f***ing diagnosis
either your veins crawl with poetry
or they don’t
there’s no template
no workshop
no theory
that can forge
what must be
crafted in fire
Authenticity Warning
this is your last chance
to walk away
from the edge
of this paper cliff
if you can sleep at night
without words gnawing
through your dreams
like hungry rats
if you can go one day
without your fingers trembling
for a pen
like a junkie’s needle
if you can look at a sunrise
without seeing
metaphors flowing
across the sky
then run
run far
run fast
run now
because real poetry
isn’t a choice
it’s a disease
that makes breathing
impossible
until you let it speak
and once it starts
it never
ever
stops
Emecheta Christian’s work explores themes of self-actualization and the complexities of the human experience. His poems and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in esteemed literary journals and anthologies such as Arts Lounge Magazine, Writefluence Anthology, 9th Edition of Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology, Synchronized Chaos Online Journal, The Decolonial Passage, Mocking Owl Roost, and elsewhere. He has been recognized with a few literary awards as well. Emecheta's unique voice and evocative imagery have garnered him a growing reputation as a voice of change in the global literary scene.
