Published May 1st, 2023
Featured Poet Contest #1 – First Place
by Chidiebere Madeuke
(Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria)
I am slowly but surely trying to find my way back to myself
back to the version of me that saw the world in the most brilliant colors
the version of me that hungered
that felt
that hoped
I am slowly but surely trying to mend the bridge that connects my shattered mind to my tired body
to make whole the many pieces of my formerly one self
to find patterns to the taste of my soul
and a rhythm my body can move to without breaking
I am slowly but surely trying to find my way back to myself
if I however get lost and never make it back
let it be known that I tried
Oh how hard I tried.
What is eternity
That I die and ascend into the celestial space to wine and dine with the gods forever
Or that I die and I am put in the earth and I become one with the earth and purple flowers grow from my mouth and my rotting corpse becomes food and my grey essence is in the purple flower and in all who consume of my flesh and I live on through them forever.
What if we lived a hundred lives
Our deaths coming before our births
And our births before our deaths
Each one on top of another
Like the layers of an onion
And all that we are is a scrambled collection of all that we have been
Each version a sum of all the versions before it
So that at each moment we are as we are now but also are as we once were
Biography
Chidiebere Madueke was born and raised in Nigeria.
He studied Biochemistry at the University of Calabar, Nigeria.
Despite his love for the sciences, he has from a tender age, always been fascinated with art both written and visual.
His love of the arts led him to begin trying his hand at poetry as a pass time until it grew to become a somewhat integral part of him.
Next in Wax Poetry and Art Magazine #1:
Three Photographs by Clarissa Cervantes
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