SQN - Sine Qua Non - Issue Two - Journal - Page 73
Marvellous Igwe
Dispossessed
The Eve. The Adam of no Eden. The sky
made of tarpaulin. It was always tarpaulin.
Here, in this desert, there was no other thing
to be inherited. Not like this had been from
the beginning. Not like there wasn't a
garden we once called home. Not like the
news hadn't grown more monstrous each
week. More hungry. Each morning another
village reduced to ashes. Each morning,
bones. Slowly, it grew closer to the heart.
The smoke. Till you looked outside and
it was your village on fire. Till you learned
that life could be how swift your limbs
could flee. Could be how fast your head
could dodge the machete. There was
no mercy in the herdsman’s eyes. No
forgiveness. No rain that could wash the
earth off that blood. The woman and her
daughter. The son. In the memory lies
everything we have left behind. In the
memory all I want to leave behind—
and now this endless heat. This thirst.
This sky made out of plastic. After he had
killed his brother all Cain could do was
wander, was roam. They have killed
my brothers. Have turned me into a
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