Next Door by Uche Nduka

Next Door (For Esiaba Irobi)

like pageant

like cheerfulness

and wantonness

                         every kind of way

                         of overdoing it

                         pleases us

enticements of utterance

everything but arrival

                         perplexity devouring

                         our retinue

no interlude,no vestige of a fringe

                                 **

to this sacrifice

you bring mirth and pigment

to this shadow

you bring a scythe

a bristling hulk

                   is what you owe gravity

A Nigerian by birth, Uche Nduka migrated via Germany (where he taught Literature at the University of Bremen) to New York where he has  lived since 2007. His books include Eel on Reef (Akashic Books, New York, 2007); Heart's Field (Yeti Press, Bremen, 2005); If Only the Night(