African Writing Online; Many Literatures, One Voice; Issue No: 10; Zino Asalor

PlaceNames

with Vamba Sherif

I was returning home after 20 years, and the man who was driving me there turned out to be an ex-rebel. The last time I saw Kolahun, my birthplace in Liberia, was in 1990 ...

Poetry

Fiction

Cover Interview

Three Poems

Zino Asalor

Asalor is a Nigerian poet and Network Engineer. He is currently
working on his first collection of
poetry, The Diary that Became Man
and Other Poems.

Trapped in Memory

He was there
Face smacked with scars
of violent age
bronze, blended behind
A flowery stockade
Sliced in slits when I pass
Always when I pass

A glimpse shared told of
Definitions; architecture
Early 1980’s, maybe 90’s
Truth caked somewhere
In cement, bound by the
Handshake of our eyes

But past familiar streets
Horizon slithers into foam
Fizzling with a pop at the beckon
Of all that is old and past
Mashed in the mud of history’s gutter
I am spat out
Colour rinsed from my shriek

He is there again
And I, here
peering through the smoky haze
Of blown-out candles
palming bribe and blade
Tonight I shall skin a god

Life and Death

I give you a look
You smile, rising
You smile at me
I rise, dreaming
only of lying down

Solo (For Miss Ratu)

The sight of you
Sparked a syzygy of senses
Thoughts in flux
Rushing rivulets
Bursting splash

An exaltation of physics for when dreams
And life collide
Life trickled into my veins
Slowly since then

I heard you left for Lagos
And joined the long traffic jams
Forever snail-ing its way to the bank
This Monday. Next Monday

Two months ago
.... Monday
I saunter to that spot
Sometimes
As if I lost a wallet there
Mostly
On Mondays
Roaming back-stage hallways
Like I did, peddling promises

And at night, I return
To pound sleep
With heavy rumbles
Thudding.Thumping.Throbbing
My heart
Still laughing
At your joke.