we have
bullet
holes for
eyes
so we
see through
punctured
flesh
this death
is a
prologue
we wait
for some-
thing bigger
this book
is filled
with
many
negro
words
laying
lifeless
on a
white field
ink stains
from a
bleeding
wound
Mother wrap-
ping de-
caying
corpse
in white
cloth like
a
baby
the
bloody
intercourse
of
bullet
& flesh.
Ebuka Evans is a Nigerian-born poet. He was a finalist for the 2021 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest. His work was also listed as one of the top 20 poems for the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize. His work has appeared on or is forthcoming from Third Coast, Kissing Dynamite, Roadrunner Review, MacGuffin, Déracine, Rigorous, Defunkt, Nanty Greens, 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary African Poetry, New Feathers Anthology, and elsewhere.
