After knowing you,
I want to unknow me.

Did you reach the
head of the mount to bring
a piece of god?

Nonetheless,
he went mad asking for
godliness in stones.

When I wake, make
me go to sleep again, among those,
who are slaughtered
by tongue.

Dig me deep. My bronze,
my blood, are going in a free
death, like the fall from
the mission.

The muted thoughts
go for you,
in loud echoes.

I do not speak.

When you give a person a part of your heart, you never truly get it back

It's theirs to do with as they please,
To treasure or to crack

But what happens when there aren't any
pieces left to give

When you've scraped out the last bit you had, & the outcome wasn't positive

Now your chest is bare & your mind is full
Of all the could have beens

While your heart is roaming from place to place, underneath other people's skin

Opening blinds to peer
Wondering how hard
Night fell and spelled out these stars
Those that don't know any better than
To copy your eyes
Just a spark in the dark galaxy

Sometimes I shoot the breeze
Hoping an officer's bullet won't hold me to
A permanent freeze
In the hour of despair
Where I haven't had a chance to clutch your soul
You have me under cardiac arrest
My heart in your possession
That gives us, at least, 5-to-10, mandatory

A fresh dew on the blades
Your hue next to my flesh
Springtime singing to us
As if we were growing on each other
Rose of Jericho when you revive my heart
From its tomb
From whence many nations came via your womb
A rose arose, aroused by the sun

You are the unread poem to an audience that craves the orator's tongue
A gift of gab to drab and dour arenas
I recite of you to hear my own self speak
To drug myself of nothings that ring so sweet.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018

Be the horns when you blow poetry into my ears
So I may dance
Or snap my fingers in accolades

The imagination
Writing you into my pages
Hoping the words would jump out at me
And hold me after the first stanzas

Piano keys
Press my soul
Hear the tuning
Tighten my heart strings

On stage
You perform
I surrender as your audience.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018

You were my first heart
The first taste I had of wanting
The closest comparison I had to
Sunrise and yoga
Black coffee and silence
Gentle hands and my skin

We were all of this
I felt like more than just this body with you next to me
Those vibrations were real
As real as this hurt
This letting go
This blue moon
This blue mood
Your lonely heart
Creating even lonelier hearts.

I think I saw the leaving in your hello
But I held on to you looking at me instead.
I am sorry for not turning away sooner,
For not running
I am sorry for not seeing that the pieces of you wouldn't come together for me.
I will do better next time  
At putting together glass meant for these hands
Meant for this heart .