Hawking Grace

Pacella Chukwuma Eke

Light falls through a woman’s veil, and I pick them up with both eyes. There is a realm below the clouds; a bus melts away in its arms. The veiled woman is hawking grace, so I swallow my haggling tongue as she greets me with a village beside her smile. She is speaking the language my mouth does not understand. The driver who carried ghosts inside his stories about the north, throws an insult into the skin of Kontagora. Its breath crashes by the roadside. Theory says it was murdered by petals: too much of beauty can drown a spirit. I say it’s grace: drought has lost the map to this place. I trace the footprints of angels in her tongue; she speaks of her people as stars. She speaks of a hope that stings darkness on its cheek. The sky a polygraph nods in consensus. I kiss her palm before the bus turns its back on her. Tradition says it is what to do when you find grace— leave it on your lips. When we run into three cities fathered by the same consonant, I imagine God chuckling at the sight of Adam’s northern accent, as he touches these blue cities, say Kaduna say Kano say Katsina. I imagine my country burning on His lips as he divides the land, the brown cake, and blesses Arewa with the largest chunk. I say it’s grace. And I am dizzy from kissing it into memory. At home, I unpack my mind into star shaped boxes. Tradition says it is what to do after holding constellations.

About Pacella Chukwuma Eke

is the author of Love in its bliss and sins; 1st runner up for the Nigerian Prize for Teen Authors, Poetry Category; and gazelle “The Apocalypse.” She is the winner of the Utopia Award, Poetry Category, Cradle Poetry Contest, HCAF Creative Writing Award for Excellence, and others. She is currently a multiple slam-champion, a Sundress Best of the Nets Nominee and a two-time Pushcart Nominee. Pacella has her works in several literary magazines, and is currently working as an assistant editor for the Arts Lounge Magazine.