Equine
The pool beside the grass
is where the dying lie down
to live.
A hunger of sorts.
I ride my body, now a horse,
towards where the canals
break.
The world a long eye;
punctured by terror.
When my father died,
there was first the darkness
& then there was the door.
Horse
at a standstill.
As if it is in the nature of grief
to inert, to immobilize,
throw open
the stable’s door
& take away the sight. Inside &
inside, the bright red of wound.
Like
a horse
bent over the pool, I’m unsure
whether to drink from it or to drown.
Look at me.
A heart
cannot be broken more than this.
My father is dead & I’m riding
at full speed
towards a waiting light:
Dust on my hooves. Wind in my face,
blindfolded.
Non-American Poetry or Portrait with a Horse
there is the horseman telling me how to be a horse
like i’m not the one on my knees i run
towards another war blinded by love & speed
& the ordinary rage of a beast i could be a man too
barking the orders cleaning sweat from my blade
fucking my own hands under the purple night
instead i’m a horse on the run i don’t know where to
or how we got here don’t know a thing besides
the enemy i’m warned is clothed in brass
they may look like me just to be clear
but don’t mind their horsehair & their pretty eyes
they have crossed the border carried the evil scent
they have prayed to the wrong gods & yes
i should be thankful for the little things
the gift of larynx water in my bowl ryegrass where
my mouth can reach & had i not been an animal
of haste i would smell like womb water & talcum
powder be fast but not fast enough i’m slaved for it
like don’t you see the blood in your own human hands
in another life i would ask for the green of the pine
the blue of the dart frog for that invisible hand
nudging a moth towards light right now however
i’m a beast that neighs & there is a city to pillage
how do i stop my hooves from reaching there
how do i stop the weapons how do i stop the man
wielding them how do i stop
Chiwenite Onyekwelu is the author of the debut poetry chapbook Exiled (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2025). His poems have appeared in The Hudson Review, The Cincinnati Review, Rattle, The Adroit Journal, Chestnut Review, and elsewhere. He was shortlisted for the 2025 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry and the Black Warrior Review Summer Poetry Prize. He won the 2024 After the End Poetry Prize organized at Oxford University, won the 2024 PRISM International Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize. Chiwenite holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) from Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
