by Jonathan Chibuike Ukah

I watched the migration of Christmas trees
from an area of a higher concentration,
to zones of lower concentration,
and I thought that I had pilloried my dreams
where it would not be able to drink chocolate,
for excessive activity during the Christmas period.
It was a moment of Deja vu, a caterwauling,
as though the Birnam Wood transfers to Dunsinane.
I squatted under an oak tree, squandering my leisure,
when three eagles perched on a branch above me,
their feathered tails swishing back and forth,
as they dropped mountains of litter on my head.
Up sprang my three hands with a flintstone,
and swung at the swirling branch with a force,
like Elijah with the rude and disrespectful children,
so strong that it caused me a body quake.
I’m not allergic to eagles or any other birds,
but if giving birth to death is a blessing,
would I not at least be privileged to make a choice?
Where is the harmony? Where is it,
when a man could not hide his broken bones
behind a triple whammy of celebrating trees,
holding a day without demanding a ransom,
without the luxury purpose of fulfilling a dream?
A woman asked me if I too was waiting for a birth
The three eagles were awaiting the birth of an eaglet,
one of them being pregnant, and I was an intruder.
So, the eagles quacked and fluttered, squeaking,
It’s three days to Christmas! Three days to Christmas!
I, too, await a birth without pissing on someone’s head.

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Jonathan Chibuike Ukah lives in the United Kingdom. His poems have been featured in Lucky Jefferson Literary Magazine, The Pierian, Propel Magazine, Atticus Review, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets and elsewhere. He won the Alexander Pope Poetry Award in 2023. He was the Editor’s Choice Prize Winner of Unleash Lit in 2024, the Second Poetry Prize Winner at the Streetlights Poetry Prize in 2024 and Winner of the Poet of the Month December-January 2025 at the Literary Shark Poetry Contest.