MANY VOICES by Oma

Many Voices Poetry Collection Oma Many Voices Poetry Collection Oma

Table of Contents 

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Note from Author

I put this poetry collection together sometime between 2021 to 2022. I had an open journal where we documented separate poems i wrote from different times between that period, and that is what has produced this body of work.

Thank you for honoring me with your time and attention by reading these poems. Engage them as you like, the comment sections are open. Expect to see more works from me, thanks again.

- Oma

 

Dedication 

to the many voices that surround me, ezumezu, i thank you all.

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how to reap what you did not sow 

(title inspired by Ras Mengesha)

sleep on your right side

your body remembers 

each death sentence 

left on the side 

of your previous lives. 

refuse to wear one face

when your mask fails to hold 

wash your face with water 

it will remember 

what the rage of the sea is,

a terrible thing. 

everytime your life tries

to grow a conscience 

remind it, the only reason 

it festers on

is because of your god

who feels nothing in its chest 

you can never forget 

everything including your breath, 

is made up. 

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The Memories Of The Childhood That Haunts Me From My First Death

I have a memory from when I was a child 

I let the new dog lay on my lap while we sat on the floor

patting its back ever so gently 

my cousin walked past us asking if I was alright 

she must have thought of how much my audacity

to be so strange at such a young age would cost me 

especially given that I was still 

a part of a family where kids were not held with tenderness 

not to talk of dogs which were simply security purchases 

she must have thought of me as an outcast 

even then they must have all known

such a child would never live long enough to grow old as a member of this family.

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Take Your Hands Off My Belly 

Something about the way 

he asked me the question 

assumed I had a child 

and I did not like it.

His assumption which seemed to come into knowing

I must have planted many seeds 

in my lifetime 

most of which I could not stay 

long enough to water.

Does this mean all of a sudden 

that I am not a mother? Because,

just because I did not let myself 

groom trees. 

Who can accuse me

except mother nature 

who bears my grief,

equally.

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On Most Days You Forget 

only hard nights

will remind you

there's a difference

between sleeping on your right side

to sleeping on the left side

of your body

forgotten in nightmares

wonders shall never cease to end

because we took all that nature called

holy and turned them into disregard

in the dark of the night

while we sleep

something full of precaution comes

to collect my breath

something full of boundaries crossed

disobedience tries to remind me

of the value of my life

in those moments

i call out to all the gods

including Jesus

my pleading buried in the mercy

of mother nature and

yes something full of hope answers

a beam of restoration glows

a glimpse of restitution shows its face

in the mirror of my conscience

the night returns my breath to me

daybreak reminds me that

yes the breath I just fought for

while the rest of the world was asleep

is a collective breath

now then friend

may we not rely only on hard nights

to remind us

there's a darkness

that resides under our feet

and each day we must learn

to thread on it lightly

with a lightness

we may make an attempt to

limit its reach

around above about

and beneath us

as we step on the toes

of mother earth

she calls calls 

yes she calls on us

to observe the deep waters

to learn its way

today in my waiting

i heard our mother say

something about this deepwater

i know

          that if it flows long enough

if it perseveres

            it will meet its clean

just like our hope backed with right actions

            can save us.

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Oh Lala To My Rebirth 

blessings to the clouds that carry our water

blessings to my mothers chest

blessings to the child in me

who will never find her way back home

to the overwhelmed adult in need of a good cry

to the lonely artist constantly seeking reciprocated love

to the spirit who sits heavy in this body

may the great spirit of the universe

continue to provide rest and peace

to all my bossoms in need.

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A Web Of Life

a silent spider climbs my wall

it stays at the center

builds a home there

webs of comfort

they say such a sight

such a neighbor

as such a spider

is a symbol of good fortune

good fortune they say

will be mine

when the silent spider shares a home with me

i wonder if the silent spider knows

it also has good fortune

as such a person

a neighbor like me

let it live within my walls.

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Prayer For My Finite Womb 

Lord, I pray to god you take away my period before I turn 40, give me this gift mother, no more blood shedding, no more blood shedding within me great mother, I said no more, blood shedding.

Cast the hope of possible children away from my womb, place them in the belly of any one more eager to carry. Let me face my skin in peace, prevent another war from happening in my bloodline, mother, I know you understand the meaning of this prayer in depths humans cannot comprehend, great mother make me a tree again, rising from you as an everlasting soil.

water water water

the depths of my soul

with this favorable honor o god.

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INCANTATIONS 

Eke Eke Eke

Ekelem unu ọ

Gada Gada Gada

Gather together in my throat

O ancient parents

Come in all of you

Come and sit in my chest

Use my breath

This breath our breath

Breasts of foremothers

Founding souls

Spirit guides come come

Come and sit

Use our throats.

EKE EKE EKE

Ekelem unu ọ

Gada Gada Gada

Gather together around my shoulders

ISE.

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The New Comer

As one life ends you will find yourself in a new one in a foreign land with multiple new languages all hidden in your mouth though you do not know how to speak any your tongue will learn to lick multiple meanings into life in two weeks your mouth will taste different you will begin to smoke cigarettes become more french than the mother you never had strangers will offer to light those burning sticks for you you will learn humans are kindest to those they will never see again then you will stop being a stranger to yourself and choose to live again.

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