Breakfast Table
Mama serves us coffee
at night. Not because
she wants us to stay awake.
Everyone brings a dream
to the breakfast table. Face
your food, you are
still in the room
enough not to lessen
your body. Of course
I am here anytime
to make more for you
and your friends
and the distance
between houses
is love.
Mama Said
I
make books
with plum
a pie
rainbow
tea—
this was
how hard
light & lovely
mama said
bolts & boys
should be
Dream
i woke up from
a dream, crying
and asking for
water—last time
it was ice cream
and new papers
father bought
for my birthday
he said, build
aeroplanes and
watch your dreams
fly: the house
was quiet, the
trees were not
—when is daddy
coming back, i leaned
into mother touching
her breast as if
i forgot something
she kissed my nose
and went to the door
the rains were here
*These poems are from David’s chapbook, When I’m Eighteen, which can be downloaded here. His latest ebook, Once in a Blue Life, can be purchased here.
David Ishaya Osu is a poet, memoirist, editor and street photographer. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies across Nigeria, Uganda, the UK, the US, Australia, South Africa, India, France, Bangladesh, Austria and elsewhere. David is the author of the chapbooks When I’m Eighteen (2020) and Once in a Blue Life (2020). He is also an associate poetry editor with Plenitude Magazine, and the poetry editor of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Kent, and is looking forward to starting a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide as soon as the Australian borders are open to international travels. Find more from David at his website.