“Self-portrait with Xylem” by Joshua Effiong
Joshua Effiong, Frontier VI, is a writer and digital artist from the Örö people of Nigeria. Author of a poetry chapbook Autopsy of Things Left Unnamed(2020). His works has been published or forthcoming in 580 split, Wrongdoing Magazine, Vast Literary Press, Native Skin and elsewhere. He tweets @JoshEffiong
A Word from the Author:
Self-portrait with Xylem, takes a cursory look of my personality and all of what have made me. I'm from a generation of resilient women who have survived years of unfavorable experiences. This personal poem was weaved with one of the many stories these women—my mother and grandmother, had shared with me. On days I hit rock bottom, this poem comes as a reminder to me—that I'm capable of overcoming any circumstances.
What do you make of a boy whose
framework was fashioned by all the
women in him? Here, I’m in my
mother's womb, & it's delivery day.
Contraction shreds her uterine muscle
fibers as my grandmother nudges &
soothes her to push me into her open
arms. Mother fix her gaze in the hole
on the thatched roof over her head.
Today, the sun is in its full glory.
A scream escapes my mother's lip as
she takes a deep breathe & I slither
out of her. At evening, my umbilical
cord is prayed upon, & buried beside
the grave of my late grandfather while
I nap in my mother's arm with a body
properly scrubbed & smeared with
kernel oil to dispel every evil meted
against me. After this pattern of
modeling, what will be the mechanics
of my being? Sincerely, I bear in me
the genealogy of women. Of half-baked
literacy. Of poverty. & every time
my faith shrinks, I practice rebaptism
in the oasis of memories flourishing in me.
