Vessels

vessels
A year might’ve been too short
To count one day’s blessings
It’s not the end my friend
Today is with you
Transport your existence
To a whole different adventure
I’ve sent you a telegram
Beneath the unawakened sun
In the middle of heartache and stardust
Picking blisters out of dead skin
No eyes have traced these swaps
Nor light can see darkness here
My body is like a vessel
With long butterfly arms, flexing around my globe
Hugging my heart happy
The love we seek in seasons
Flowers that grow out of vessels
Erupting seconds
Flourished for me
I’m a vessel
Flesh is like mud
But vulnerable like glassware
Formed beautifully
V is for vessel
Containing uniqueness
If the earth is our cargo
Then we must carry a bundle of identities safely back to our shores first
Like vessels
We push oceans out from our lungs
Cry a universe of sand
We gave the world our greatest hope and destruction
From shackled ribs to crippled proverbs
I feel it every so often
When we talk about our mental health it’s a conflict
With severe cultural complications, less patience; this would easily lead you to the edge of falling
No one noticed
You can smile bright while internally broken
I know pain should not be conserved in our vessels
Maybe it’s the dearest thing we love, we hide and hate
In the end, trust is what we take from ourselves
Have we made it there?
Go!
And sail your vessels to promised islands, far away to the West
Across the cold, across unimaginable waterfalls, and ravishing ravines that break the necks of spears
Soo bax!
We were fishermen before seamen
Seamen before we were stereotyped as pirates
Just say
Fathers of migrants
Holders of a generation of refugees
Dispersed, physically
Divided, tribally
United within the harness of vessels
Hymns of coal
Sing along and burn the storm away
“Wax on wax off”
Stand tall or back off!
For I will smother you with kicks and lightning-tales
We are moving vessels
Like the below decks golden-greasers from Tiger Bay
Have faith
You’re an unplayed old instrument
An unfinished instrumental
Untamed
melody,
melody,
melody
*Follow me*
*Follow me*
Whispering
I am but a song away
“Balinbaalis duusha”
“Caddaayo qurxoona”
“Ubaha dushiisay ku degaysa”
“Wey duusha”
I fly
I swim
I run
I am symbolic
I am sibraarand aagaan
I am xeedho
Milk and subag
I am a product of an over-shaken body, overthrown, overboard, my nest is the loss of ancient lullabies left on skeleton branches
I’m nearly there
You must positively prepare for the arrival of strangers
To come
I’m a vessel
A vessel, I say!
A Vessel
A Vessel
A treasure for my soul
A gift-wrapped entrusted lesson
The pleasure is from above
Created with measure
Flesh is like mud
Vulnerable like glassware
Only our dreams can steer us forward

AHMED MAGARE (Author & Artist) is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, and writer and is a member of Birmingham-based international writers group, Writers Without Borders. He is originally from Somalia. He migrated with his family to the Netherlands during the Somali civil war, aged three. He lived with his family in the Netherlands for most of his teenage life and eventually decided to move to England to pursue his further education in creative arts. In his writing, he explores the notion of hyper-dislocation and the experience of living in the West, through the poetic and static lenses of self-reflection and perseverance. He navigates mentally between Somalia and living in the West, questioning the state of longing, belonging, and comments on sociopolitical and cultural subjects inhabiting the space of global Somalis.

Find Ahmed’s books on Amazon: When Heroes Hide Behind Curtain Ropes, and Vessels.

Twitter: @ahmedmagare

 

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