The last day of the year, and I paid a visit to show my respects
To attempt to humble my flesh
To give my reflection of a failed man
I
Who designated days of joy saved up from past jobs/relationships
Felt the lightning crash into my soul
Thinking it took the weird from one to half my whole self
I came to the plot
Twisting rose petals into my palm
And sprinkling them at her feet
Asking for forgiveness in a futile plea
I needed someone to speak to, and in this case
Spirits only speak to those who don't come forth weak with intentions
Renditions of "Wash Me" running through my mind
In all white, I delivered a bouquet
A brief say
A respite from desperation, my soul hath claimed
Prayed for her rest, her family's best, and a ceasing of my shameful pain
Hell, at one point, I thought I messed up her name.
Not even nervousness
Just urgently purging in the place where "my mama" 'nem stay
Pennies in her best number
A purple candle and rattle to battle back bad energies
The wind was so telling, that I couldn't even catch my breath
Running from reality
I asked for clarity in love through death.
Ifeanyi N Okoro II © 1/2/2024
Jan 2, 2024
Jan 2, 2024 at 1:15 AM UTC
I would've loved to meet her.
The sweetness you spoke in her honor.
A gentle breeze in a month of freezes.
Electric, connective, explorative.
I would love to meet the next.
The sweetest of peas.
Only bluest when being overly fruitful.
Reflections of trekking tower of the familial tree.
Expectations of expecting in introspect.
Forgive me for being greedy, wanting to be involved in your life.
Forgive me for involving my love.
I shall let the resting rest, the ones that need rest to get rested, and give my mind and soul a rest.
Ifeanyichuku Okoro © 2023
Nov 12, 2023
Nov 12, 2023 at 12:59 AM UTC
If I came to you
Wounded
Wound up
Winded
Weary
Then remember that I couldn't fight what I felt for you anymore.
Why battle beating hearts that besiege my pride?
And
If I fell to my knees
There would be no need to lift me.
You already have when you smiled my way.
Burying a vision of you in my memory.
On my gravesite, blow the pinwheel, so you could send my soul spinning to heaven with every breath you take.
Ifeanyichuku Okoro II © 2023
Nov 12, 2023
Nov 12, 2023 at 12:48 AM UTC
I
Humbled and haunted
Decided to let go of my breaths
Hold on to terrible and troubled terms
My eyes
Bar tears from encroaching terra firma
For fear of being human
When told I was interstellar
I
Heavy and hollow
Created chasms between family, friends, and flirts
It's not a sign so cold
But a zodiac killing field sans air
Blame is solely on my solar surface
I'm burning with regret I refused to own
Because I didn't recognize the seeds I've sewn
I
Heart-ached and hoping
Resign to my final destination
Loved her
Continued to adore
Pouring out olive oil and anointing my tongue to release the finest psalms to surround her name
Blowing kisses to the wind to carry my dedication and declarations to decorate her skin
I
Halted
This Earth's praxis upon invisible axis
To view you
One last time
Before I die again.
Ifeanyichuku Okoro II © 2023
Nov 12, 2023
Nov 12, 2023 at 12:29 AM UTC
What I truly miss
Began with innocent interrogation
Prodding at pasts
Emptying diction into enticing eyes and ears by the entrance
We were both educating each other
Almost until dawn
When dusk dusted our sheets
Separated, but connected
By telecommunications
As we lay and discuss lamentations and laughter
I never got tired
Of you
Of your secret science that seduced my senses
So, when autumnal apples approached ground
As common as students with Cambridge courses,
I found out that the law of falling
Doesn't sound as appealing
But I managed to gravitate towards you
Universally, there's a formula for that.
I feel things never stopped, but were always in motion.
Ifeanyichuku N. Okoro II © 2023
Jan 23, 2023
Jan 23, 2023 at 5:05 AM UTC
Instead of stones and hands,
We're throwing out hearts and hiding our emotions
Guilty in how we communicate
A message here
A chance visit there
Time lapping us on the track of our busy lives
Lapses when we don't act on our arrested desires
Or is that still such a sin only Satan so-call sells?
Cuffed,
read rights that announce what it should feel as wrong
Without passages, psalms, proverbs, and palm wine,
Both sacrilegious and unlawful to speak against our wants,
As if there's a separation of holy institution and national regions
In truth,
Lawless, this thing called love is!
It breaks and shatters everything
Steals your thoughts
Vandalizes your ears with the whispering words
Written and etched on its drums.
And here we are
Imprisoned as it taunts us outside the bars.
It wants to be caught.
And I, with you.
Or is it that
It temps us to attempt to flee with it?
Where?
If we break free and escape,
Adoration is how far?
Ifeanyichuku N. Okoro II © 2023
Jan 23, 2023
Jan 23, 2023 at 4:31 AM UTC
As fireworks litter the dancefloor of our atmosphere
One can only hope that we remember
Who really ignites our passions
Continues our flames
Sets off sparks in our hearts
And takes care of the scattered remains
You are my independence from the hold of avoiding interdependence
I'll forever light a Roman Candle to wish for romantic thoughts up a star
Explosive, you are.
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
Jul 6, 2021
Jul 6, 2021 at 11:47 AM UTC
I fell short of matching all of the stars in space with the raindrops that made its way to Earth
Instead, I matched the stars in your eyes with the old pain's last breath and otherworldly love's first
The clouds have opened back up for business, booming thunder and zooming lightning
Somewhere there, the flash of your smile
The beat of your heart
The coolness of your waters that quench my thirst for you
It's natural to look at nature au naturale
Like Italians and Nigerians talking with hands as expressive as Deaf lovers relay romantic verses
Clear, nimble fingers that massage my soul within the cumulonimbus and nimbostratus
Fueling, flooding, fostering the gods' apparatus
You
The final form of unfinished paintings
Give birth to worthwhile wishful thinking
On my mind like taxes and teacher's lesson plans
A soft brush adjusting to the sky's new hues kissed like ones we've missed or knew
A masterpiece in pieces of Vishnu's vision for when he returns to look for Lakshmi
Hopefully time will not be Shiva to end this for me
How does it feel to be adored by Indra, when showers descend and drench the deepest ditches to force creation of drawbridges for those dire to cross your path again?
- Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
Jul 6, 2021
Jul 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM UTC
This winter night
What fell from the sky
Landed on my cheek
Cooled me
Gave me chills in my soul
Wasn't your lips
Unfortunately not your soothing words
And just like that, it melted
As did other snowflakes that made their descent
And I hated this Valentine's Day
For not letting me freeze
In your presence.
Ifeanyi N. Okoro © 2.14.21
Feb 14, 2021
Feb 14, 2021 at 11:14 PM UTC
There were stars in the gaseous garden
Not your everyday botanical brilliance boasting beauty
Just a set of eyes like fauna
Wandering and wondering
Growing fond of the fragrance of flora
Foreign ideas to think they wouldn't devour them
On Nimbus nights
I, a wayward raindrop from the clouds of descending souls, wish to be sweet to the tongue I plunge to
Like water for hot cocoa
One brings to a boiling roll
What can simmer this will in the hot seats like pots be
On burners
We all burn for attention
And, in another dimension,
We quench the thirst of both flora and fauna
Sacrificing for beauty and beasts
As rain would maintain peace on unearthed surfaces on fire
Maybe this outspoken raindrop is really a seed, planting and plotting to promote growth in spirits
The trickle down on panes when hearts don't quite hear it
Or eyes overlook
Or when roses won't rise
Maybe those stars will guide?
Maybe fauna don't really realize its worth is reciprocal
Why poems put pride in places so pitiful
That its readers are forced to intervene
Maybe raindrops trapped on door screens are living their dream
The garden twinkles and shimmers, moves and remains
This sky so black
Its fruit so trained
Even as it dips, tightens its belt, and occasionally falls
It's answering wishes from wistful droplets
Like myself.
And, like these gaseous gems...
Sometimes we fall for certain beings we feel are just as celestial.
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
Jan 10, 2021
Jan 10, 2021 at 7:46 AM UTC