| Oke Mbachu |
Organic system (heart takes a back seat)
Sometimes when the body is at rest, the heart
turns into a more indistinct inhabitant, of like
a Paleolithic cave; in a tunnel of bones, comfortable
at home. Making its blood paintings in silence. Relegating
to the deeper recesses, hammering its stone undercover.
Slipping into a coma, its rhythm quakes softer on the
Richter. Lowering its voice, it digs its Sisyphean hole.
Like quelling its urgency, stepping down from General,
to join the ranks of stomach’s controlled impulses, the liverâ
€™s
loyal patience. The lungs with their humility, drowning silently,
the hypothalamus rebuking the gluttonous cells. The spine
tires from standing; kidneys keep their perforated walls up.
Repulsive bile stays to its own, green or grey with anger.
And the appendix will only hold its breath for so long.
Before it bites its lip bloated. On hands and knees
daily, the intestines crawling in their own brown.
And the brain clacks at the keys, taking what
its given, and the soul has no known address.
Sometimes when the body is at rest, the heart
turns into a more indistinct inhabitant, of like
a Paleolithic cave; in a tunnel of bones, comfortable
at home. Making its blood paintings in silence. Relegating
to the deeper recesses, hammering its stone undercover.
Slipping into a coma, its rhythm quakes softer on the
Richter. Lowering its voice, it digs its Sisyphean hole.
Like quelling its urgency, stepping down from General,
to join the ranks of stomach’s controlled impulses, the liverâ
€™s
loyal patience. The lungs with their humility, drowning silently,
the hypothalamus rebuking the gluttonous cells. The spine
tires from standing; kidneys keep their perforated walls up.
Repulsive bile stays to its own, green or grey with anger.
And the appendix will only hold its breath for so long.
Before it bites its lip bloated. On hands and knees
daily, the intestines crawling in their own brown.
And the brain clacks at the keys, taking what
its given, and the soul has no known address.
Oke Mbachu is completing Master's Degrees in English and
Psychology. He is a twenty-something aspiring poet. His
poems have been published— or are forthcoming— in
DMQ Review, Caveat Lector, Barbaric Yawp, Virginia
Adversaria, True Poet Magazine, among others. He
currently resides in Illinois, U.S.A. In the accompanying
picture, the Tennessee River sprawls in front of him.
Psychology. He is a twenty-something aspiring poet. His
poems have been published— or are forthcoming— in
DMQ Review, Caveat Lector, Barbaric Yawp, Virginia
Adversaria, True Poet Magazine, among others. He
currently resides in Illinois, U.S.A. In the accompanying
picture, the Tennessee River sprawls in front of him.
