Photography © Edward S. Gault

 

2000

& A knot was tied to a ring.
                   Where I came from,
our bonds were sealed to a dining tray.
Mum and dad eat from the same plate
and sleep on the same bed all the long night
which couldn’t measure their distance relationship.

Two years later I dawned and fell at the same time
with an acorn. Today, I scamper on family trees
in search of the small latched joy I once held in my palms
for minutes, but it was heavy of the smiles I lost.
                   I employed sorrow to strip its bark
and serve its sweetness on my family plate

—it was 2020. Yesterday, we wear wilting smiles
so big they eclipsed our pain.
Eclipse doesn’t live to blur tomorrow.
Today, grief is still toiling for me. Today,
Mom and Dad still eat the knot on the same plate.

 

Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi is a Veterinary medicine student at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Pursuing his enthusiasm for poetry, He has his works published in Poet’s choice, Echo mag, and a few more. He reads at Sea glass literary magazine and edits for the incognito press. He can’t wait to see tomorrow.

Edward S. Gault is a poet and fine art photographer. He lives at Mosaic Commons, a co-housing community in Berlin, Massachusetts.