We Disappear
into prayer and everything unholy dies
every syllable of faith
becomes a phoneme of light
morphemes of grief
is the phrase of glee
I look at worries and smile –
they are the Egyptians I see today and un-see tomorrow
sometimes, all a metaphor does is teach
hope to peel stone with a knife
& place heaven on gravity
someday, my body will be a sanctuary
of miracle – inferno of glory
The Lord dissolves into my mouth
& I swallow Him.
Contributor’s Bio
JOEL OYELEKE is a member of Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation from Osun state, Nigeria. He is a poet, literary enthusiast, God-addict and Literature in English undergraduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state.
Author of THE THEM IN ME (Direwords, 2022), Co-author of LET ME GRIEVE (Arting Arena Magazine, 2023), Winner of the Arting Arena Poetry Prize (2022), Publishing Officer II of the Association of Nigerian Authors (OAU chapter) and Curator of Poetry Village, OAU.
He is published in IHRAF, The Nigerian Review, Poemify, Shuzia Magazine, Yellow house Library, Crusaders Magazine, The Sailors Review, Clean Ink Anthology (Ohio, 2022), iTell Stories and Everything Beautiful Blog, Pidgin Poetry Magazine, Panorama Magazine, Outlook India, Pointers Editorial and elsewhere. He currently reads and edits poetry for Arting Arena Magazine. Asides writing, he loves reading, teaching, playing football and dreaming of vacation in Michigan.
This is fantastic. Your use of metaphors is awesome.
I am greatful.
This is captivating. The allusions are just so apt. Joel took the Congress of world, dismembered them and restored life to them. Authentic language.
Stanza five is so reflectional that I had to pause and review what he wrote “sometimes, all a metaphor does is teach
hope to peel stone with a knife
& place heaven on gravity” who sees this and not pause at the creativity of the language.
Joel is a brilliant poet, I enjoy his creativity in this poem. He attached simplicity to it that the message of the poem is well communicated. Ride on.
I am very pleased with your comment. It shows poetry is not in vain. Thanks.
I never lose appetite for Joel’s poems. Why? He is the fire whilst poetry is the smoke announcing his presence. Here is ” We Disappear”; an evocative short poem, deliciously served to dissolve in our minds just as ” The Lord dissolves into my mouth & I swallow Him”
Thanks, Monalysa. You’ll remain my poetess crush.