I Wish To Write A Poem Poem by Chinonso Nzeakor

I wish to write a poem
A poem about what?

I wish to tell a tale
A tale about what?

I want to sing a song
A song about what?

I want to start a story
But how shall this be?

...There is a desert bird
Flying here and yonder

This day,
May all duties rest
Squarely on my shoulder

For I shall sing;

Of the frivolities of men
Beneath the crescent moon.

I shall warn
Of the destruction that lies waste
At noon.

I shall beat my siren drums
To the weary scope of listening ears

I shall warn that stubborn hearts
Have always created
A cheap corpse
For willing worms.

It is always better
To thread the path of safety
And stiffening rules

Than to bravely stride the path
Of danger allayed tombs.

I write this poem to warn

That only a transient pleasure lies
Behind the sweet allure
Of the forbidden fruit

But,
If you want to know the sex of lagoons...

Jump.

Jump into their wombs.