Boulevard of Broken Branches

BOULEVARD OF BROKEN BRANCHES

 

I

my life is a boulevard
i am a piece of broken dreams

my life is a bough
i am a piece of shredded leaves

my life is a road
i am a crossroad of chaos

my life is a space
i am a void of evil thoughts

my life is a waste
i am a face of an unwanted child

my life is a test
i am a failure

 

my life is a root

i am a debris of broken dreams

 

my life is a shoot

i am rising against interred nightmares

 

II

my breasts are small

the village say am but a girl

three moons after now

they ask why the golden pair has come

so robust

 

my breasts are big

the village say am spoilt

by the fondling hands of men

who stay behind at the ancient stream

does the act make breasts grow?

 

my breasts are known

like yam tubers in the village market

they are the topic at the village square

mama and papa say i bring home shame

in this court i can make no plea

 

to a harrowing ritual i submit myself

i am another lamb

in the shadowy shrine of breast-ironing

 

III

i am now a powdered face

with bleached and transplanted teeth

advertising themselves

a pair of lips dyed with luxurious lipstick

20-karat gold in the holes of erring ears

like gold-ring in the snout of a swine

toe-nails pedicured in scarlet

constructed mediated breasts that

shame reality as they pop out

like the head of seething anaconda

 

a vain and glorious caryatid sculpted

over thousands of moribund nights

a face of beauty no more than skin deep

 

your conscience may mock me

how many of your eyes feast on me

and in the name of light, camera, action

you glorify my beauty

 

IV

it won’t be once

and it won’t be twice

you will always come to drink

from this fallen fountain of fleshy waters
the broken cistern of hades

palaces of red-light ladies where secrets of shamefulness are shared
in the shadowy interior of paradise of promiscuity
where potent seeds of pestilence are sown and reaped and spread

and you go into hundred halls with harrowing hordes of statistics preaching the gospel of zipping up

apostle of death fouling salvation with your soiled soul
how could i survive when you sleep with my mothers, sisters and girlfriends?

 

V

tell shina
tell him that the silence hurts
like a dead knife cutting through
the flesh
tell him that mother-hen does not
look on while her chicks go astray

tell shina
tell him i’ve cuddled
the tail of a cobra
for when an idol becomes too proud
it is shown to its face from which
wood it is carved
tell shina
tell him that many moons may pass
but the past has nowhere to go
tell him the words have eluded my tongue

 

VI

i can talk about it now

dusts of broken china clouded the room

pearly pieces of earrings jangled out of their holes

and balls of beads bounced brazenly

off my violated neck

shreds of sundered dress carpeted the floor

pints of blood dotted the bedspread

as the stiletto tore through my flesh

 

i can talk about it now

the filthy fingers froze feelings on my face

i looked on ceaselessly like a decapitated head

as by a cruel stroke of lightning i was put asunder

and shook like the epicenter of a sacrilegious violence

a temple desecrated

he was on top

as my world began to burn

in the fleeting ecstasy of a stranger

 

VII

moon, stars, clouds, and sun
time merged and dispersed
on the sandy, thirsty plains
of sahara we trudged
against fiery trade winds
we forged

sun, clouds, stars, and moon
in cold, hunger and strife
we arrived morocco
the threshold to golden europe
as the mirage of golden fleece
played in the sands before our
cataracted eyes

dogs barked and dogged our tails
mortal voices sounded death knell
and we fell one and all
our sunken face asking
is this the way to europe?

 

VIII

bye-bye shina

the lily in the valley of my heart

 

bye-bye shina

the only currency in my life’s vault

 

bye-bye shina

the only coral reef in the seabed of my waters

 

bye-bye shina

the sparkling star in my solar system

 

bye-bye shina

the ebullient gazelle in my grazing field

 

bye-bye shina

the final end of my love’s beginning

 

bye-bye shina

as i bury you in the cemetery of fouled feelings

and assassinated desires

 

bye-bye shina

as you make this transition from lust to dust

as you die interred with love stolen, unrequited

 

bye-bye shina

as you become the symbol of a love

ending before starting

 

bye-bye shina

as i pack an eternity into one final look

the lily in the hell of my heart

 

IX

tears, teardrops, tears drop, and never stop

time hurts as it heals
the heat of longing harasses my
psyche of persecuted passion

fractures of fragile feeling in faded
face of forlorn future
shrunken silence of unsung tragedy
time heals when it’s past

eternal future suddenly made present
just the marks of time left as reminders
in empty space of filled minds
tears, teardrops, tears drop, and never stop
hurting healer when shall these tears
be in your skin-bottle?

 

X

and i pray

 

may the iceberg of realities
not shatter the ship of my dreams

may the frigid fingers of time

not tick against my magic moments

may the harsh hands of hunger

not stir my stomachs

may the fiery temptation of mammon
not lead me astray

 

may the ogling eyes of sex
not entice me into pits of paradise of promiscuity

 

may the silent night

not empty me into the bowels of hell

 

may the day dawn

not behind but before me.