Illustration: three crosses on a hillside with a fuchsia sky

Then, i would go out to collect God’s tears in a basket

Returning from a graveyard
where i had held my breath
that any flower should mime
the hymn in my ribcage,

i walked into our dim-lit kitchen,
& found mama humming

on the lap of God she mistook
for her wooden stool.
& as she sat, dicing onions,

it began to rain.

Illustration: shadows of crosses against a rainstorm


Martins Deep (he/him) is a budding African poet, photographer/artist, & currently a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His works deeply explores the African experience. His creative works have appeared, or are forthcoming on Lolwe, FIYAH, The Roadrunner Review, Barren Magazine, The Sandy River Review, Eunoia Review, Agbowó Magazine, Surburban Review, Twyckenham Notes, FERAL, Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World, Kalahari Review, & elsewhere. He loves jazz, adores Amanda Cook, and fantasizes reincarnating as an owl. He tweets @martinsdeep1

Graveyard and Rain illustrations by C.B. Auder.

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