by Gospel Chinedu
after Donika Kelly
The night is on my neck like a lover's breath.
At the dance, I can hear today's music from a sniper's
distance. The jazz of pistols & AK-47s. Decibels
of the 50 BMG on repeat. & bodies dancing to the
heavy metal, rocking their legs like a memorized
disco dance. Two bones rattling against each other is
‘rock-n-roll.’ Glory to my sebaceous glands, I have
slipped away from the hands of death, time & again,
like an eel in a brown river. When the bullet hits his
frontal bone, it’s blues. Then, silence. Cause of death:
he couldn't move his feet to the rhythm of the music.
His life, a folk song. & so are all the lives in Africa.
The day awakes, & I'm still tipsy with adrenaline.
I wear my dancing heels & leak into the hole where
my fathers hid their hopes. But I do not go hoping
to find those hopes alive. I go to gather what is left
of them—the dry bones. Today, I have flexion
& acceleration. I have velocity & more adrenaline.
My body language is fright ‘n flight. & survival
depends on reflexes. One wrong move is a body
in repose—a potential energy elegy. Last night, at the
discotheque, as the dance floor was lit up with bullet
flares, I grabbed a boy by his hands, he was Black
American. & at the climax of catastrophe, we stared
into each other's eyes until I was lost in hi(s)tory
& he in mine. Like lovers, we moved our feet,
one step at a time, one step ahead of the bullet,
as if dancing ballet to the riddim of rifles.
GOSPEL CHINEDU is an Anatomist and poet based in Anambra, Nigerian. He is a joint-winner of the 11th Suspect Poetry Prize, 2025. His works of poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Augur Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, The Deadlands, Haven Speculative, Small Wonders Magazine, and Heartline Spec. Gospel tweets @gonspoetry.
Dance As A Response Mechanism For Fear And An Act Of Survival was edited by Suha Tariq. It can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 9.1.
