John Anagbo

http://www.archive.org/download/JohnAnagbo_AloneInTheDark/JohnAngabo.mp3

Alone in the Dark
      
Alone in the dark the smell of iron binds me
Alone in the dark I am submerged in human waste
Alone in the dark naked black bodies rock on the ocean
Alone in the dark the Puritans violated the women
Alone in the dark my history was darkness
Alone in the dark there was no one to turn the lights on
Alone in the dark I die
Alone in the dark my soul lives to see the rays of the golden ball of fire rise
Alone in the dark I sing about tomorrow
 

NUMBER 37

On my way to the Commons
I met a stranger whose silence perplexed me
My feet wobbled and my knees caved in; I walked on.
That night, the visible darkness mocked the moonlit night
I went to the cliff’s edge and peered down
The rest of them stood still, breathless…
They waited while I flirted with the music of death
My wings were clipped, my feet tied, and tired
Muted echoes surrounded me in the box into which I descended
Back again I went to the cliff’s edge
I wanted to be happy, to be free, to spin on the clouds
to commune with the stars, to feel the nothingness of escaping reality
I wanted to defeat deep blue
The game ended.  I stood still in a trance, still at the edge of the cliff
I slipped.  There was total silence
My brain froze; my feet went cold and numb
I tried to feel the bottom but there was no bottom
Darkness fell.  There were no candles, only flowers blowing in the breeze.
NUMBER 37 remains a cold black spot.

John Anagbo is a Supervisor/Teacher of English at Montgomery High School
in Skillman, NJ. He also works as a Content Instruction Specialist in
English for the Program in Teacher Preparation at Princeton University.