David Ishaya Osu
David Ishaya Osu is a poet, memoirist, editor, street photographer and is an associate poetry editor of Plenitude Magazine, the photography and arts editor of Cọ́n-scìò magazine, and the poetry editor of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. He is a board member of Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation based in Uganda, and the author of the poetry chapbook When I’m Eighteen (WRR, 2020) and the hybrid chapbook of poetry/prose/photography Once in a Blue Life (2020).
Seamless
light / seamless / lingerie
it is not as dark—gravity, a reason to sleep—say
lines / across / lodestars
the first axis—love, a step down—say
lull / trespass / little
it was easy—paces, a taste—say
leaves / miss / latte
each sound—slow, a fruit—say
lace / brackets / let
it could move—tight, round—say
lemon / come south / loudly
we have a night—tune, berries—say
Wax
a—wax a poem
b—beneath the green
c—as fleshy as candy
d—no one to the dial
e—east to the rest
f—fast and funky
g—go with my freckles
h—a whole journey backward
i—more than chairs, i’d say
j—a spread of jam horizontally
k—kindly cutting lacy nerves
l—low
m—two slow songs melt
n—my body is my forename
o—oral pleasure
p—soft folds and plans
q—in flower boxes
r—bring me frothiness
s—a salty city is enough
t—tonight
u—baby
v—there is time to go vestal again
w—one word for moving teacups
x—spin
y—we are keepers of crosses
z—no casks nor darkness
Maya
once milky
dawn
twice the pavement
suitcases
sing
through the butter
udita
whispers
folds and furry
always
return
boldly central
butterflies
thrice timely
free heels
among red poems
it will rain
tonight
rounds and names
curl
Buttons
—one just became a chocolate flavour
—i ate sugar every day
—tunes like siblings running down the stairs
—i was measured for my early dresses
—decades have gone by, but not my childhood
—i do not know how to think of motherless sparrows
—cream and oysters, locks and love, sky and dye
—i remember my father is dead offhand
—several weeks of eating apples from the bottom
—i have not been able to resist tomorrow
—needles have gone through all of us, but we have not them
—we kept spare buttons in colourless jars
—there was nothing else to hide; everyone was asleep
—we gave a cup of tea and honey a story
—mum was the only one in her dress
Another life
the first window you saw—
you do not remember the circle—
your favourite butter is what you want—
today a photographer gives the lily another life—
a drop and a kiss in one sentence—
i felt peace through my shoulders—
the language of rain unspoken—
one memory is enough—
a timely cream and coloured whispers—
touch it again—
one platter of raw amber—
all your words in vanilla disappear—
look down on me tonight—
it is a forgotten sunset—
slowly sleeping through peaches and pitches—