The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.
africans make fire affirmations on accident by Chima “Naira” Ikoro
the african tendency to shorten everything, to scramble sayings and shape them to your liking. i imagine this is how most of our proverbs are formed. last night before bed, i take “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it” i say “when we reach, we will cross.”
and so shall it be. not “we will solve a looming problem when we get around to it” rather, “when we make it to whatever is next we will surely continue forward.”
i sometimes think about the threshold of life how nothing last forever and one day this skin will dissolve into the dust that birthed it. i am enjoying a beautiful day, or sharing a meal and the reminder crosses the horizon of my subconscious a cloud threatening to become a hurricane brandishing a panic attack like wind invisible to the naked eye but powerful enough to destroy whatever comfort I’ve built to shield myself.
death. hear how it just sinks to the bottom of this poem. but who of us can add a single moment to our lives by worrying when we reach, we will cross.
and the church said, amen.
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Prompt:
“Write a poem that contains instructions for yourself if you are ever hurt or struggling. Use a repeating mantra.”
This could be a poem, journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness piece. Submissions could be new or formerly written pieces.
