Portrait Of A Poem Poem by Sumaila Mohammed Rashad

What is a poem?
I'll tell you

The handsomeness
Of a woman; her childly fingers,
Her not smoky outline,
Her sodium glowing brow,

Scenery of the
An early morning cloud
That is sculpting
A maggot and rearranging it
To form a bare foot lass,

Scenery of a naked African child,
The cremation
Of the peace keeping soldier
Is a poem

The ever
Expanding graveyards of
Sun bathed dead bodies
Of immigrants
On the Mediterranean's
Sand castle
Is a poem too

Aylan, the Syrian lad
Coughed out of the sea
Is a legendary poem

Shall I
Also tell you,

The unmarked graveyard
Of a western tourist
On a beach in Somalia,

The hungry
South Sudanese refugee camper
With a rusted memory
Of his clime,

The bare chested, bones-coated
Child sergeant
In Machar's army
Is a poem too good?

What is a poem?
Be lax
I'll tell you

The sleepless clock
That patrols the dimensionless
Hall of time,

Buildings amputated
By drones in Aleppo;
Flawless kids taking daily doses
From chemical weapons in Idlib,

The symphony of torpedoes
Of oerlikons
Of cartridges in Iraq
Are all ingredients
Of a tasty poem

The blazing thirst
For martyrdom
For vengeance
For tenure of the sea
Is not a poem!

Avalanche in Nepal
Bush fires roaring
At the frailly vegetation
Of Ghana
To lie prostrate
Is a poem also

Not deep enough?
I'll tell you

The only religion
Of thronged men
Wielding placards
At a protest ground,
Is a poem

Still what is a poem? ?