“A poem that is not a poem” by Izang Alex-Marie
This is not a poem but a prayer for requiem
For those nameless bodies bearing unknown labels
Bodies easily bent like reed by every wind of strange doctrine
Who become houses hosting confusion like the tower of Babel
This is not a poem but an epitaph for the walking-dead
Those whose lives are nothing but markers of existence
They who breathe in free air but return nothing of carbon
Those people whose suicide is yet to be made formal
This is not a poem but an epic for a hero who won no battle
Who fathered a child only to stay farther and left him with the murder
A hero whose portrait is scar on my memory dimming my star
He rowed a boat he couldn’t steer gently down the stream of life
This is not just a poem in art but one borne of the hearth of my he-art
Written on the plain sheet of gratitude with a golden pen of nostalgic experience
Made of stanzas of love, deviced by figures of divine grace
Dedicated to all who made my motherland far from my murderland
The named writer who is copyrighted in poetry submissions as Izang Alex-Marie is from Jos, Plateau State; currently studying Criminology and Security Studies at the National Open University of Nigeria. A Catholic-Christian by religious orientation; literary enthusiast with strength and preference for poetry and reviews. Already published in many local and international journals, magazines, Anthologies, and blogs. Currently working on couple of self publications. Lives in Jos, Plateau.