Michael Akuchie

A LITTLE PRAYER 

For the vessel that fills 
its cellar with a hint 
of belief, for the mind that 
trains the tongue to elicit 
a response encrusted 
with cymbals which announce
He who sleeps in the background 
of angels, let the sky spill 
a tribe of stars & may
all this be antiqued 
by the hands of memory.  
May song become a tide of me. 

______

MICHAEL AKUCHIE IS AN IGBO-ESAN POET. WRECK (WINTER 2020, THE HELLEBORE PRESS) WAS SELECTED BY JOSÉ OLIVAREZ TO WIN THE 2019-2020 HELLEBORE POETRY SCHOLARSHIP AWARD. HE IS A FOUR-TIME NOMINEE FOR BEST OF THE NET AND ONE-TIME NOMINEE FOR THE ORISON ANTHOLOGY. WINNER OF THE 2020 ROADRUNNER POETRY PRIZE, HE TWEETS @MICHAEL_AKUCHIE AND READS SUBMISSIONS FOR FRONTIER POETRY.