The gift of giving

wilting treesand houses built on sinkholeslost traditions, andblood lines soaking into the eartheating away at the long-forgotten corpses of our lineagebroken mirrors holding disfigured reflectionsof little brown girlswith twisted mouths and charred fingertipsthese rest on creaky floor boardsand against old wooden wallsdraped in white sheetsbooks with no spinespages out of order and words that don’t

Nobody loves you when you’re down

These diseases make you unlovable Nobody loves me when I’m down. And can only see the swarm of darkness closing in on me. My eyes must look so small and bloodshot—fighting to see through bright flashes of light: alarms that never snoozed, constant and jarring. Nobody recognizes me when I’m breaking. Code, character, promise, or

Breathless

I lost my breath.

Forgiveness requires peace

For so long I was afraid of your hands and The boom in your voice And in my later years

Feet of my father

Late night musings

Smaller than myself

I was a hundred and fifty-six poundsWhen I met youCould cross the span of an oceanIn one, two stepsFilling up the space of myselfWith all the things I knewMy preference for backwoods And ice-cold Minute MaidProne to spilling myself into open armsAnd rebuilding my musclesSo I could cradle my loved ones

Reincarnate

This is a “Poem of the Day” feature piece I don’t wanna just dieI wanna walk through the forest during a rain stormAnd take my clothes off one article at a timeStrewing them along the ground behind me, beneath meI want to sink slowly into the rootsOf mishandled flowers and caving mountainsThat’ll lead me through

Growth

Poem about depression.

Careless (tentatively)

This is a “Poem of the Day” feature piece Why are lovers so careless with meSo oblivious to my feelingsAnd sensitivities Like my words lessen in power when fallingOn their earsAnd I’m wrong for hearing the full vibrato Of what another’s got to sayI never was fondOf being treated like a—A afterthought and/or a tag-a-longIdling

5 – Endings

From the Numbered Collection I can’t stay hereWith youYou can’t hold my handWhile my house burns down around us bothFlames do not know good from badThey can not discernDead from alive Me from you © Ama Akoto (2018)