all the dead men are draped in white
their bodies soft in the soil of my memory
growing into flowers my grandfather
smells like chrysanthemums my
granduncle has yellowed-out petals they
attract the blue butterflies in my lungs i
carry a handful of grief & my elbow is
a fulcrum too weak to withstand the
weight in the garden of my dead every
flower i touch folds inwards like a mimosa
because they are still scared of the war still
think that everything pointing towards them
is a missile gunpowder in the form
of manure even the dead my dead
are falling from grave to memory to amnesia—
loss of memory oblivion my nights
have shadows because all my flowers
shine forth like stars they take my breath
away & literally that explains my
sleep apnea the arrhythmia of my heart-
beat singing their names in the middle
of the night in the haze of mourning
mourning dews fall off my eyes to water
my flowers into a pink orchard a graveyard
shapeshifting into a grapevine fire
becoming water water the god that keeps
all flowers alive & o— my dear flowers—
chrysanthemum daisy frangipani peony
hibiscus rose gloriosa dahlia hydrangea—
i love you & out of my eyes will flow
a flood of blooming waters not to sink your
garden but to float it towards the shores of beauty
Gospel Chinedu is a Nigerian poet from the Igbo descent. He currently is an undergraduate at the College Of Health Sciences, Okofia where he studies Anatomy. He loves music and is a big fan of Isak Danielson. His poems are mostly speculative and cuts across different themes. He is a 2021 Starlit Award Winner, 1st Runner Up for the Blurred Genre Contest (Invisible City Lit), 2023, Honorable Mention in the Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Prize, 2023, and also a finalist in the Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets, 2023. His works of poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Chestnut Review, Worcester Review, Augur Magazine, Fantasy, Fiyah, The Deadlands, Channel, Apparition Lit, Mud Season Review, Trampset, The Drift, Consequence Forum, The Rialto, BathMagg, and other places. Gospel tweets @gonspoetry.