(diaspora, noun from Latin, diaspeirein
from dia ‘across’ + speirein ‘scatter’)

your petaled emissary iiiii your seasoned must
       laddering air to shore iiiii a familial face memorized
from bargain picture frames iiiii your self breathless    
with new-wed joy friends iiiii washing loaves of halua
    with rains of bitter coffee iiiii your gapped teeth browned
as mine even in the iiiii black & white of film        

let us break now here iiiii tonight as every night
on this wrong oceanside iiiii flints of oud aflame           
               over embers of coal iiiii over curls of hemp-treated braids
brown eyes smoked to iiiii unreliable necessary witness
eschewed mouths iiiii stirred to urgent song

ode owed to you iiiii your rusty wheelbarrow
from forever or so ago iiiii your heirloom for market
     tarp-lined & weighed by rocks iiiii tariffed with dates papaya coconuts
your homily of no IOUs iiiii & on noteworthy days         

the thick spoon of your iiiii dark veined hand its
appetite for tetanus injections iiiii ladling lentil curry         
steaming over every incensed iiiii frame of home                
over your guarded iiiii gift shelf of myrrh
the spored heartwood of iiiii oud my baggage claim

ocean over fault ocean iiiii this double armory of
mask & musk iiiii tolled night after herbal
night a summons iiiii muscled by aromatic memory
for your nectared tales iiiii from forever or so ago         
Migwi Mwangi