This poem is an equator & 
           every line travels back to where it comes from.
 
Darkness to night. My feet drenched,
          & oily, I’m  always slipping into nightmares.
 
Kid, you do not know why the nights
          end too soon. I’m always acting at night.
 
In one dream, a demon pulled me into
            a den of dead men from my ancestry,
 
& in reality, I was sleepwalking into the depth
             of an empty river. I awake on the shorelines,
 
a lasso tied to my legs & a fishing tong
             to my hand. In another, I was led by angel into 
 
the tribes of Israel, a gigantic gate split open
            & I’m blinded by light. In my bed, I was praying &
 
counting my beads & bathing with holy water.
             They say the way to life is a needle eye. But my body
 
is not willing to be compressed.
             Yet, now & again, my mind is flipping
 
through the pages of the life searching
             for salvation. Like how to rip off body from soul.
 
And truth is, I do not know why 
            I’m like the firmament, sunlit & eclipsed,
                                                                                    at the same time.

            
Biography 

Chinedu Gospel is a Nigerian poet whose work have appeared or are forthcoming in Nantygreens, Eboquills, Fahmidan journal, Sledgehammer lit mag, Feral poetry and elsewhere. He tweets @gospel79070608.