Poetry by Isoken Osagie

Umbilical Cord

Monogamy has dealt me a baptism
Entrailing me to beseech drought; a certain kind of gluttony
Letting loneliness be realized
I oil my arms to wrap my bosom
Avowing, yes sure I can, to be— no never.
Cracking buoyant barrels filled with pockets of hope
Now- yeasting
*
I stand
Hands akimbo in spite of a lover or a dream
And even with carnal tears
I say to myself: embrace it.
I am the one I want,
The one I seek
I—the love I give
I am not bereft, just panting.