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Thursday, January 25, 2024

Dark Moon/Earthrise

 —Collaborative Poetry (tan-renga) 
by Uchechukwu Onyedikam of Lagos, Nigeria, 
and Christina Chin of Malaysia
(Italicized lines are by italicized authors)
—Photos Courtesy of Public Domain
 
 
haunted house—
the twisted shadows creep
into fertile minds
a ghoul peeps
through the door


—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin 


* * *


punching bag
drills…

the boxing
heavyweight
an elephant

—Christina Chin/Uchechukwu Onyedikam
 
 
 
 

cast-off feathers
curiosity draws me
to a red-tailed hawk
soaring
in courtship


—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin 


* * *

the edge
of the green leaf
a ladybird
in the mantis'
hold


—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin 
 
 
 


faith granted—
the old blind man
without his cane
poses
for a photoshoot


—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

* * *

standing up
a pair of feet
Kilimanjaro

the mobile signal
gets weaker

—Uchechukwu Onyedikam
/Christina Chin
 
 
 
 

holding hands up
out of the darkest night
hosanna

reaching the peak
of Mt Kinabalu

—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

* * *


there's a house
we are looking for
a home in the country

a Ugandan settler
in rural China

—Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin


* * *

dark moon
in the horizon

earthrise—
the day I want
still to come

—Christina Chin/Uchechukwu Onyedikam
 
 
 
 

ironing by the door
her children trot home
from school
greetings—
in mother tongue


—Christina Chin/Uchechukwu Onyedikam

____________________  

Today’s LittleNip:

A worthy relationship is an agreement that challenges and supports both participants.

―Joseph Rain,
The Unfinished Book About Who We Are

____________________

Medusa’s Kitchen welcomes collaborations, and today we have some tan-renga from two newcomers from half-way around the world—Christina Chin from Malaysia, and Uchechukwu Onyedikam from Nigeria. For more about tan-renga, see https://www.graceguts.com/essays/an-introduction-to-tan-renga/.

Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet who is a four-time recipient of top 100 in the mDAC Summit Contests, exhibited at the Palo Alto Art Center, California; 1st prize winner of the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest; and 1st prize winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama 2019 Photohaiku Contest. She has been published in numerous journals, multilingual journals, and anthologies, including Japan's prestigious monthly,
Haikukai Magazine.

Uchechukwu Onyedikam is a Nigerian
mad creative artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, and The Hooghly Review, as well as in print anthologies. Christina Chin and he have co-published Pouring Light on the Hills (2022), and, for forthcoming release in 2024, Clouds of Pink from LJMcD Communications.

Welcome to the Kitchen, Christina and Uchechukwu—and don’t be strangers!

_______________________

—Medusa
 
 
 
 
Christina Chin

 



 
 
 
 


 
 
Uchechukwu Onyedikam
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A reminder that
Poetry Unplugged has returned
to Sacramento and will meet
tonight at the Silver Lining
Cocktail Bar, 8pm.
And there will be a tribute to
D.R. Wagner in Davis tonight, 7pm.
For info about these and other
upcoming poetry happenings in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
(http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/p/wtf.html)
in the links at the top of this page—
and keep an eye on this link and on
the daily Kitchen for happenings
that might pop up
—or get changed!—
 during the week.

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send poetry and/or photos and artwork
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