ILL NIGHTS
like winter evening saturdays
when you’re ill and your mum
is lazy but loving, and wants
to eat and drink at the same time
amber glass of brandy steaming
through fingers that touch a
wooden spoon and spew
hot liquid broth into your waiting mouth
—from Rattle #65, Fall 2019
Tribute to African Poets
__________
Labeja Kodua: “I grew up in Koforidua, Ghana, and what I loved is the life in the language, how everything is imbued with personality, you walk around an angry road, with a joyful breeze, holding back a talkative coconut. The surreal qualities of the city are so characteristic of what Africa is to me. I would like to convey this in the poetry I write.”