The Star Sower

I have mastered the art of sowing stars in the sky,
which was previously my mother's interior speciality;
upon her sad and sudden ascension to the seventh sky,
it fell on my hopeless shoulders, with a clang, a prophecy,
that tomorrow there would be no garden of orchids,
except for a classy canvas of spiraling planets,
like Mars, Jupiter, Neptune and the fecund Venus,
where the moon will stoop down with a hoe,
and Mars will arrive with truckloads of the sun;
to offer favors for the pollination of seeds;
or build mounds for the cultivation of stars.
I had watched my mother swipe her hand over her brows
when Neptune threw a tantrum and flooded her farm;
she would raise her head, her right hand behind her waist,
as though overcrowding the sepulchral galaxy
with glowing stars was a famed Jupiter’s graceful gift,
never a miracle for a million-aged Venuses,
born to cut off their hearts from their bodies.
She had planted corn, yams, coco yams, cassava,
vegetables, fruits such as pineapples and oranges;
then when the season was ripe, she sowed flowers
growing like a first love on a forbidden terrain.
With the help of the rain, the stars grew quickly
and my happy mother began to harvest them
just before the raven’s cry and she followed the trail,
leaving the rest to my slow and ascending body.

Jonathan Chibuike Ukah resides in London with his family. His work has appeared in numerous literary publications, including Ariel Chart Press, Atticus Review, Boomer Literary Magazine, The Pierian, The Impostor Poetry Magazine, and The Unleash Lit. Jonathan's poems have earned him notable accolades such as the Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest 2022, The Pierian Alexander Pope Poetry Award in 2023, and the Unleash Creatives’ Editor’s Prize in 2024. He was also shortlisted for the Minds Shine Bright Poetry Prize in 2024. His poetry collection, "Blame the Gods," published by Kingsman Quarterly in 2023, was a finalist at the Black Diaspora Award and secured the position of second runner-up at the Wingless Dreamer Poetry Prize in the same year. Jonathan has also been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2024 edition.