I am sand

I am chaos, calm as the sea,
the climax of a thunderstorm
the duvet of leaves and grass

I am the lime of time
the salt of the earth
I whisper through them.

I caress everything,
rippling through the winter wind
through trees, storms

scattering air, breath,
I reveal a mesh of nudity
through unrelenting waves,

I pass bloom to plants
through stirring bedlam
in the path of the moon.

my kiss is gold and death
and my embrace is cold as frost;
I bury copper in lullabies

my cradle is in ruins,
my hunger is to flutter
like the raven, the eagle

death is my tenderness,
we lose ourselves in the hope,
we will rescue dreams from the abyss.

I survive on a mouthful of air;
on the recession of languor;
I am sand, hungry.

born of the sea and the forest
I eat up leaves and grass,
Mourn all, celebrate everything.

Fork my hair and tell me
that I hate the ocean,
or the sun when it twists.

Jonathan Chibuike Ukah‘s poems have been featured in The Pierian, The Unleash Lit, Compass Rose Literary Magazine, The Impostor Poetry Journal, Strange Horizons, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets and elsewhere. He is the winner of the Alexander Pope Poetry Award 2023 and a second runner-up of the Wingless Dreamer Poetry Prize 2023. His poetry collection, Blame the Gods, was a top finalist at the African Diaspora Award 2023.