A Corner Away

A Corner Away

Ife E. Sonaike

I have discerned
you
drawn from your deepest cisterns
I’ve gathered
age
old treasures in one sitting
collected
endless measures
of you

and at the bottom of a sink
somewhere in east London

a first born son
takes a staggered step to
the dining chair

the drain
gargling

on his patience,
fully spent on his
third most annoying chore

on the splinters his product design teacher
won from him
that afternoon

and the last
few grains of yesterdays lunch

the flat hums
fridge muttering
and soft snores

there

You grin on
laminated cabinets
with a sweet rose
and gentle orange sky
He discerns
You

I am certain my flower stems
are curved of Your smile
You planted with me in mind

hoarded moments of closeness
released over the most gory days
turning tomb to garden

a north London
photo album shares a memory
with an orange exercise book

under the planets
just beside glittery volcanoes
a girl glues memory
to family tree

her name laminated on the
bunsen burner tray
is one of
her mother’s easy prides
since her incubator
chose live and not die

she invites giggling kilts and blazers
into a lifelong
‘see what the Lord has done’

she discerns
you

you capture
our mundane
and tether it to
your reality

pouring radiance
over
life

---

Ife E Sonaike
Poet & Court Compliance Officer

Ife has been published in The Move Hub and self-published Fallen in Pleasant Places, a collection of poetry. More of her poetry can be found on Instagram @ingeniest.

Photography by Alina Chernii