Two Poems by Precious Uwen

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floating away

1. FLOATING AWAY


/i am waiting for the right words to come take me to you. the sun does not breach its contract with the moon. i am standing in a pool and wishing it were a sea. my body houses strangers like a thousand voices playing from a music box. the souls in me recite sad hymns about depression even while i sit in church. i am in a cathedral, and the
souls in me are newcomers; they are me—within, without. i go into myself and try to open every door. a sad man does not see tomorrow as another day to hope on; but as another day to survive. there has been this compartment in me for years now; i do not have access to it. the more i struggle with the doorknob, the more i cry. my demons choose nighttime for their pursuit. they chase me and i run and fall. and at the end of the end i fall into the abyss.
what does it mean to have an abyss in oneself? what does it mean to be that abyss? what does it mean when one is the cause of one’s depression? my ghost folds his arms in this poem and gathers nothing from our sad story. my mother says when there is nothing, pray. so, i pray. i pray to fall into the sky; pray for the mouth of air to open wide and take me in as its own. in this poem, i am in search of hope— of a sweet, free verse to cling onto, but how do i become these things when i am bitter and not free? do not wait to be forgiven. i do not wait to wither, do not wait for the present to become the future even. i float, away/.

2. TRAVEL

/i am looking at my mirror and it reflects something else. we can only be scared of the rain if it hurts our skin. there is a picture of heaven while i stare in your eyes. i am speaking to myself: i hate that i can’t come into you, hate that i am the hell that does not come close to heaven. you are light, and i am not just in the dark. i am just too broken and unforgiven of the past that i see. i cannot traverse hell to heaven. i cannot give up my past/.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Precious Uwen resides in Calabar, Nigeria. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous places, including: Eboquills, Kahalari Review, Rough Cut Press, DoteofFlane, Fiction Niche, Okadabooks (an anthology titled, Christmas and Candlelight), Aceworld Publishers, Paper Crane Journal, Brittle Paper and elsewhere.

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