​Every Day is a Lullaby
 
of holy emanation. The world, so elastic
it springs. Rigged to the roots with
 
wonder, I envy you, Blue
Dot. I want to inhabit your reverie, your
 
iris. Teach me weightlessness, & scalding truth.
Your truth—messy origins, & bloodied histories
 
ringing inside of me. With a heavy cough
I could spit out my genealogy—all
 
of whose errors I am. I could
like the mystics, dash into mystery, & be eaten
 
up by visions. But it is your touch I want, stupid
world. To crawl into quiet intimacy
 
with you, almost grazing death.

---

My Sadness Out of Context
 
Not insomnia, but a desire to braid midnight's
dark into a migraine. Not a tear-
 
drop, no, merely desalination of the eye
sockets. Not a lack of appetite, only the belly
 
practicing solitude. Always, dear friend
 
                               you stand outside
                            the bounds
                      of my
          suffering &
misname it.
 
Now, if you must
 
          be a finger in my eye,
                    grant me the kindness
                              of making it clean.

---

Pamilerin Jacob is a Nigerian poet whose poems have appeared in Barren Magazine, Agbowó, Poetry Potion, Ghost City Press, Rattle & elsewhere. He was the second runner-up for Sevhage Poetry Prize 2019. Author of the chapbook, Gospels of Depression; he is a staunch believer in the powers of critical thinking, Khalil Gibran’s poetry & chocolate ice-cream. Reach him on Twitter @pamilerinjacob.