Chiagoziem Confidence Jideofor
Chiagoziem Confidence Jideofor is Igbo and Queer. Her poems have appeared or are scheduled to appear in POETRY, Reunion: The Dallas Review, Obsidian, ANOMLY, the minnesota review, Yaba Left Review, Passengers Journal, Rigorous, Untitled: Voices, Versification, and so on. Also a self-taught illustrator, Agoziem has worked on several book covers and digital art collaborations.
An Interpretation of Index
more than 82 million Nigerians live on less than $1 a day
-National Bureau of Statistics
at the behest of such news, we claim tragedies
—fluid & predestined
being people carved from designation & context.
from historic mooring of ships
near inland towns. from the installed machines & those roaring
underneath our feet.
from poverty adopting length & grime at the coastlines
when the sea touches land bringing craw-craw & bitterness,
poisoning our crops and throats. we’d bemoan its stench of decay
& death overriding our slums & everywhere else holding pith
we’d taper belief
count so many things to do with water;
could fashion strongholds/drive growth our way
& even more things to do to water—
seal up a mother’s mouth while she remain
more of sand, limestone, & other natural sealants
mere pieces on a platter
day & many days of fishes bopping to the surface, releasing their poison
the guzzling bubbles & direct rays of sunshine slowly disappearing
without voices, our sea will stink to hell