[New Year’s Eve Poem] Like a Semicolon

The past year recedes like 
a chameleon's tongue— a miss, 
I am not taken.
Before my mirror, wiped with 
the nectaring newness of the year,
I am the visage of a boy styling 
his life into a poem, resolute 
to say more, to do more, 
like a semicolon; 

Bryan Obinna Joseph Okwesili is a queer Nigerian poet and storyteller, keen on telling diverse African queer stories. His works explore the interiority and tensions of queerness in a heteronormative culture in which he imagines a world of inclusivity. He is a two times Pushcart nominee (2020/2021) and a Finalist for Tupelo Quarterly Open Fiction Prize. His works have appeared and are forthcoming in Craft, SmokeLong Quarterly, Slice mag, Isele, Foglifter Press, Tupelo Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Litro, and elsewhere. He is currently a student of Law at the University of Calabar, Calabar.