“Lamentation” + “In Search of the Self” by Alain Jules Hirwa

Lamentation

Outside this room, a stranger goes by my name
Father, I will not lie and claim to own something
That is housed far away in the mouths of strangers

All I can claim is this, my body. I keep it like a secret

And then I will die, and the stranger will outlive me

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In Search of the Self

I take off the world, piece by piece,
The garments sewn by unknown tailors

A skin sewn by my parents
What remains is fog

The boy standing in it, unclear

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Alain Jules Hirwa lives and writes in Kigali, Rwanda. His poems are upcoming in the Kilimanjaro Voices of the University of Benin and in Bending Genres Journal. His short fiction was published in Welter at the University of Baltimore. His articles appeared in Igihe, the national leading newspaper.