by Kwaku kyereh
I watched, imagined—as grains of dirt
covered the coffin of my love—
It was exam time, I couldn’t be there
for the woman whose name I bear
like a sheriff’s badge. She wasn’t well,
dad told me—but none knew that was
her going. As they buried my love—
I wept on a bed that’s supposed to be mine
but would leave for someone else I don’t
know in a couple of months coming—
just as my love was leaving & no one
knew who was coming.
I couldn’t be there for my love. &
dirt is the only metaphor for her death.
Henneh Kyereh Kwaku is a poet. He’s from Gonasua in the Bono Region of Ghana. His chapbook Revolution of the Scavengers, was selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani as part of the 2020 New-Generation African Poets Series Boxset.