Echezonachukwu Nduka
Stitching
The last time I fell while cycling,
I rose to the torment of loud heartbeats
& shortness of breath.
I have updated my list of cravings to include
standing aside to watch you interrogate my nightmares,
passing each story like a thread through the eye of a needle.
I watch you stitch our affections together with steady hands,
then tug at the string to measure its firmness.
I sit at the table you set as an invitation to choose life.
Your hands are soft & I wonder if stitching makes them so.
Perhaps that was what mother did: stitching lives & broken
families back in shape with songs & steady hands.
I rose to the torment of loud heartbeats
& shortness of breath.
I have updated my list of cravings to include
standing aside to watch you interrogate my nightmares,
passing each story like a thread through the eye of a needle.
I watch you stitch our affections together with steady hands,
then tug at the string to measure its firmness.
I sit at the table you set as an invitation to choose life.
Your hands are soft & I wonder if stitching makes them so.
Perhaps that was what mother did: stitching lives & broken
families back in shape with songs & steady hands.
Biography
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Echezonachukwu Nduka is a poet, classical pianist, and musicologist. He holds academic degrees in Music from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Kingston University London, UK. Author of Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts (2018), his poems have appeared in The Indianapolis Review, Jalada Africa, The Bombay Review, The Village Square Journal, River River, 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry Vol. II, among others. When he is not reading, practicing on the piano, or cooking, he is listening to music and singing the wrong lyrics with a straight face. He can be found online at www.artnduka.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thepoetpianist/ Instagram: @thepoetpianist Twitter: @echenduka |
