prelude: [a body, sag & skulked. at twirl-end of solitude.
& her sanity untaut: soul-in-a-flame. searing burns.
breath of joy, hooked & crooked. a frail child of dust —
in elegy & naked ruins]

In this void —
I sit gutted, rocking arms & folding in edges
of grief. sanity beamed, & I tramped in her
coursing light. what’s ashamed of light than
light itself? a whit of gloom glyphed in arid
dyes. bet my soul is a poem in flight mode:
half-life. half-retard. lone mien & skeletal.
once a haven: smoky hands, rizla red, &
a thin puff hauling hell
how best to court with the flames- escapism.
here, utopia is dystopia. sprawling in spleen
spores of skins. I do not merry-go-round in
my dreams. I hanker for dawn but I’m no-
thing like the shape of sunrise. or bluebirds
chirping in matchless graces. If I’m a bird,
bet I’m finding gravity in clipped wings of
freedom. what's flight if not a pinnacle of
a molehill? —man, moles, & the molehill.
& I remembered memories, a boutade of
echoes drowning in light. such virtues
hardly sparking a miracle. but somewhere
in God’s handbook, I’m a lost child in
prodigal filth, drawing to a homecoming.






”Portrait As Anti- ballast,” is an honorary mention for the 2024 Akachi Chukwuemeka Prize for Poetry.

Biography
Chinemerem Prince Nwankwo, SWAN IV, is currently a final year student of the Department of History and International Studies, University of Uyo, Nigeria. He is the Poetry Editor, The Cloudscent Journal and an Assistant Poetry Editor, Arkore Arts. He tweets @ CP Nwankwo.