I love the smell and strong taste
of purple orange and white tablets
this man in white pours in my cupped palm
it smells like home before the war visited
and tastes like the gravy served
to us refugees in our own country
it will bring you back to your senses
a blue apron lady reassures
i like it here, i like it here
i don’t want to go back there
you must return home
they chorus an anthem in my ears
your children miss you and
your stories and blah blah blah
i nod my head in a sluggish ‘no no no’
in the background it’s bobby mcferrin
doing his classic ‘don’t worry, be happy …’
but it’s only me hearing, listening
dancing, moving my body like not, to the
beats flying from his unseen drums
my slight tenor overshadowing his baritone
as my index finger takes charge
of his guitar in the empty air…
nothing makes sense to me after all
not even this blue uniform and
the silence it maps in my heart

—
Ehi’zogie Iyeomoan hides his emotions in words and in photographs. He is so in love with human shadows. He Tweets like a bird @fulanibuoy, and can be followed on Facebook at /ehizogieiyeomoan