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The Enquiry

The Enquiry

By Aisha Nelson

I
sweat and rain mingle in the solid downpour

II
it pounds on parched scalps
feet break stones                 rocks crack
toes squirt mud                  water gushes
wind beats frayed faces
with pins                  with cold
world is white                  bleak
shriveled remains trudge on to give flesh to The
Enquiry                  at
The Oracle

searching souls decay
gnaw away with waiting at   
The Oracle
souls gnarled with the labyrinth of dilemmas and dreams
souls negotiating a handshake from a desperate distance
navigating, measuring their lot of thought and depth
while the backs of disinterested spirits look on
spirits scratching serious sores with rocks
spirits cracking kernels with swollen paws

III
Tswa. Omanye aba.
let the moon no more swallow the sun at dusk
let not the fingerlings gulp down the crab a-whole
let the shell not shell another shell…
let not the kite suffocate the sky’s nostril
let the farmland not turn rock at the till of hoes
let not the footprints stray ahead of the wayfarer

Tswa. Tswa. Omanye aba.
let dew be found to show for the morning
let the spirit and soul reconcile
To share their unique, singular home.

Tswa. Tswa. Tswa. Omanye aba. 

Biography

Aisha Nelson (Sheilla Aishetu Nelson)

Aisha Nelson (Sheilla Aishetu Nelson) currently teaches English Language and Literature at Alpha Beta Christian College, a CIE curriculum school in Accra. She holds a BA in English and Psychology. Her poem, Revolt, was short-listed in Poetry Foundation Ghana’s 2012 Political Poetry Competition and was later published online by One Ghana One Voice (OGOV). Sheilla’s poems have appeared in the Kalahari Review, Munyori Journal, and Phillis Wheatley Chapter. Several of Aisha’s short stories and poems have also been published in The Mirror and The Weekend Globe.

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