POEM: AN ORCHESTRA OF UNFINISHED THINGS

By Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba

                      Photo Credit: Ruben Novryzyan

AN ORCHESTRA OF UNFINISHED THINGS

I

every sight, touch, taste,

& feeling sings

the memory of the night. the room

a manifestation, a tangle of dreams & desire 

spilling over—our hearts melding

 at a  junction of sworn secrecy: we will never

tell anyone of these words. 

 everything sings, can't you

hear it too? a moment can be extension, and not lose its essence, its

momentousness. oh, you are too busy exercising 

your

straightness.

II

Mount me a christina

perri TEMPLE & sequester me into

the tightest of slits. there alone can

i commune with this ache into healing. i'm nothing 

less of desire. sour milk.

 blotched bread.  this ache would not stop rattling: "i'm straight, and i like oma

but may i fuck you, please?" 

confusion and truth is a moon and star. St. Rems

 Lodge perfect night sky to stare at. perfect synonym for your name:

gliding breathless spurt.

 

III

in this poem, i retrace in your name

other (many) boys before you. an ache in an ache. 

       yam & sauce remind me that nothing

lasts forever

as their dissolving in my mouth. i rebuke them: a poem can make

a moment last forever. as a moment itself.

                                               

Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba is Nigerian. A 2021 ARTmosterrific artist-in-residence and first runner-up for the 2021 Kreative Diadem contest, he has a handful of works online. He tweets @ son_of_faya.