on the road to akure my sister recycles
conversations from yesteryears. my mother
taps nude fingers against the wheel. sunlight
outlines the scraggy scars on her face. my sister
fondles the silver buckle of her belt. last night she
stumbled out of her dreams with beaten eyes. she
gulped water and smashed the glass cup against
her bedroom wall. she found father’s silhouette in
the pocket of her denim jacket. she faltered her words. she called
mother a knocked-out equipment stuck in a loop of
abandon and betrayal. from the backseat, my brother
emerges – how far out are we? the interstate road
splits into two. i pass my mother directions from the
mobile map. my sister measures the distance as a unit
of longing. of falling into father’s embrace. of
loaning him a chance to amend the scars on mother’s
face. of huffed shoulders and i-told-you-so glares. of labelling
mother an unrepentant unforgiving parcel. of recycling these
stories two years later on another road trip to akure.
conversations from yesteryears. my mother
taps nude fingers against the wheel. sunlight
outlines the scraggy scars on her face. my sister
fondles the silver buckle of her belt. last night she
stumbled out of her dreams with beaten eyes. she
gulped water and smashed the glass cup against
her bedroom wall. she found father’s silhouette in
the pocket of her denim jacket. she faltered her words. she called
mother a knocked-out equipment stuck in a loop of
abandon and betrayal. from the backseat, my brother
emerges – how far out are we? the interstate road
splits into two. i pass my mother directions from the
mobile map. my sister measures the distance as a unit
of longing. of falling into father’s embrace. of
loaning him a chance to amend the scars on mother’s
face. of huffed shoulders and i-told-you-so glares. of labelling
mother an unrepentant unforgiving parcel. of recycling these
stories two years later on another road trip to akure.
Michael Emmanuel is an Associate Editor at Praxis Mag Online. His works have appeared on Brittle Paper, Kalahari Review, Praxis Mag Online, and in Kreative Diadem’s Rebel issue. He lives in Lagos & is a Chemistry student. IG: @the_mike_emmanuel.