Atomic number 8

By Kafui Avaworyi

When the oxygen goes out,
The fire in the jar blows out.

 

The lungs of aspiration must keep pumping
To feed the blood of eagerness with energy.

 

Equal rights are gagged and choked
When the knee of oppression blocks its airways.

 

How can you breathe?
When the trees of hope are few,

 

When our gills of preparedness begin to expire
Because they’ve polluted the rivers of desire.

 

The healer said to me,
The heart of this child fails because oxygen says no.

 

The healer said to me,
The flower withers and die because the xylem and phloem are dry.

Healing is breathing in, the element of life
And the healer's job is to let oxygen say yes.

 

Then he points to the smoky jar and says,
When the oxygen goes out,

 

The fire in the jar blows out.

.

 

Kafui Avaworyi from Ghana loves literature. Poems and short stories are his favourite genres. He adores and idolizes the novelist, Sydney Sheldon. He has a B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Ghana.