Solitude is a Christening Chamber. by Olaewe David Opeyemi (Lucent Dreaming Issue 8)

“Close the door of your room”
This is not a metaphor in this poem.
That bang of the wooden partition is the song
my ear has been starved of, for my inner eye
to read the name on the board of my soul –
the one no one ever calls me,
the one the priest missed out on the 8th day
because my father could not read
the tiny scribbles in my small closed palms.
Names are labels placed on our forehead,
the burdens we bear all through life.
I struggled to be everything
my parents and my village calls me–
To fit in like vegetable oil sleeping in a jug.
I know this is a path to the woods,
dousing the little flame living in the core of my internal millieu.
All my life I’ve been looking for myself in every house,
in every temple, on every street, except in myself.
This is why I’m desperate to see the rear of this door,
To baptise my body into the ancient doctrine of solitude –
of communion with my shadow,
beaming a torch into abandoned basement of my soul,
where nakedness to myself is without a dread of shame.
To unearth a name myself only I could know,
The one i could wear like a fitting crown.

Olaewe David Opeyemi is a Nigerian medical doctor and writer. He interrogates his life experiences through writing which he also sees as a veritable instrument for personal and social metamorphosis. His works has been published by Trouvaille Review, Selcouth Station, Quills, Eboquills, Praxis Magazine and elsewhere. He won Dawn of Splendour Poetry contest (Nov.2019,June 2020) and Shuzia creative writing contest (Dec.2019).
He writes from Birnin Kebbi, Northern Nigeria.
@dropey01 | @opeolaewe

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Lucent Dreaming is an independent creative writing magazine publishing beautiful, imaginative and surreal short stories, poetry and artwork from emerging authors and artists worldwide. Our aim is to encourage creativity and to help writers reach publication! Subscribe to Lucent Dreaming now, support us on Patreon and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.