{"id":1690,"date":"2017-03-27T17:28:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T17:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/?p=1690"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:00:08","slug":"amu-nnadi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/amu-nnadi\/","title":{"rendered":"Amu Nnadi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>A Field of Echoes<\/h3>\n<p>&#8230; and mind flutters to a close<br \/>\neyelids to slumber<br \/>\nall over, a certain darkness emerges<br \/>\nearth is populated with nothing<br \/>\nbut a tempered sigh t<\/p>\n<p>night flashes white underwear<br \/>\nas meteor, quickly closes her thighs<br \/>\nmortified by the radiance of stars<br \/>\nshe grows shy as mimosa pudica<br \/>\ndies from shame of too much conceit<\/p>\n<p>from a sprawling field of echoes<br \/>\nlife raises its braided head of beads<br \/>\nbutterflies flutter, wings bearing pollen<br \/>\nfar off, rainbow fishes in sea of grey clouds<br \/>\nfor anagrams, net dripping rain<\/p>\n<p>mushroom places on rotten wood<br \/>\na proud crown; elsewhere stanzas sit<br \/>\nby a fire, warming my naked toes<br \/>\npoems gasp for air, rising as spark<br \/>\nneck held by grasping fingers of smoke<\/p>\n<p>across the waistline of thought<br \/>\na belt of black ink runs, crossing eyes<br \/>\ndraining teas, sighs of my muse<br \/>\nmelding myriad meanings mindlessly<br \/>\nin frame of flowers and wilful weed<\/p>\n<p>sometimes a poem is dreamed<br \/>\nas pollen, sometimes a twig<br \/>\nor line of awakening&nbsp;&nbsp; like this<br \/>\ntells you the mind is gone<br \/>\nto dwell, as smoke, among the clouds<\/p>\n<h3>Shadow<\/h3>\n<p>forlorn being, crazed stalker, shadow<br \/>\nyou follow every thing, every where<br \/>\nnot form or substance, hue of sorrow,<br \/>\ndarkness assumes you, mimicking life<br \/>\nmocking every move and movement<\/p>\n<p>you are what light chases out of things<br \/>\nsilent cry, not alive or fully formed<br \/>\nedges taper off to hide your vapid spirit<br \/>\nin frame of arabesque light, flowing into<br \/>\nthe surrounding nothingness of being<\/p>\n<p>what hides in things is without blood<br \/>\nit escapes as wraiths in body and form<br \/>\nchest without heart, eyes without sight<br \/>\nmouth open, uttering not a single sigh<br \/>\npoem not written, projections without<\/p>\n<p>hungry to be seen or heard or known<br \/>\naching to be touched or felt to become<br \/>\ndark like this soul, flowing from within<br \/>\npoetry of deep-lying reflection of things<br \/>\nshadow of something dying to be loved<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Confessional<\/h3>\n<p>same way every day life begins<br \/>\non long solemn road, walking<br \/>\nchill on gone hearts descends<br \/>\nbaptising the absence of cheer<\/p>\n<p>slowly dawn unveils her tongue<br \/>\nspirits in grim procession depart<br \/>\nbearers of night\u2019s last darkness<br \/>\nand pleasure, breathing as dew<\/p>\n<p>proclaims sun\u2019s white ascension<br \/>\npilgrims juggling time as beads<br \/>\nholding in last-toned shadows<br \/>\nthe promise of light that comes<\/p>\n<p>darkly the days we travel begin<br \/>\nsoon, wattled cocks play ikolo<br \/>\nwith wailing life always begins<br \/>\nin the dark soul sun finds a way<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Night<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>night, majestic, enters his dark palace<br \/>\ndancing to sultry symphony of crickets<br \/>\nwind on saxophone plays a regal tune<br \/>\nleaves, wearing green bandanas, gyrate<br \/>\nflighty fireflies, filled with fever, flame<\/p>\n<p>in chamber of lights and silk curtains<br \/>\nqueen moon smiles, swollen with milk<br \/>\nharem of giggling stars surrounds her<br \/>\non grey skin, groomed by time\u2019s lotion<br \/>\nfragrances and whisperings of flowers<\/p>\n<p>among pines a political party of wolves<br \/>\nbays at busty moon, rogue desire in loin<br \/>\nsky chats as maidens at riverside, clouds<br \/>\nfilled with water, and by the gate owl on<br \/>\nsentry hoots, wielding claws as bayonets<\/p>\n<p>proud and poised, the night dances on<br \/>\nabsolute sovereign, ruler of my shadows<br \/>\npossessor of what is seen and not seen<br \/>\ntowards the charmed chamber he goes<br \/>\nto lay down, lost in dawn\u2019s lighted arms<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Field of Echoes<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8230; and mind flutters to a close<br \/>\neyelids to slumber<br \/>\nall over, a certain darkness emerges<br \/>\nearth is populated with nothing<br \/>\nbut a tempered sight&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}