(In response to Robyn Schiff’s Dawn of the Dead)
Akua Antwiwaa
Once upon a time
When I thought I knew everything
My mama took me outside
And showed me all the
Ways to die while shopping
For vegetables at the mall
After that I learned that everything is
A tinkering for some kind of death:
marigolds rambling on front steps
soft kisses under the sun
whispering careless things onto winds
I started to ask all these questions:
How to get some poetic justice? To be unafraid of your zombified self?
To love a still heart?
And in this way
I emerged from the mystery loop
Seeking a boorish thirst
That loves everything in magnitudes
Akua Antwiwaa is a writer and Phd student based in Providence, Rhode Island. She has been published in the Killens Review of Arts and Letters, Brittle Paper and Okay Africa.