Madness

A found poem — Text from “Against Heaven” by Kemi Alabi

Devynn Steinman

Against heaven—

I am neither the first nor the last—

a mere nuisance

combined with anguish,

humanity,

and just enough trauma to scream.

The feral leap of each eye's prism,

exhausting the rest of the world—

Our temples keep

burning at once.

My salt scorched into our ground,

all smoke no fire,

a heightened sense

of something out there trying to get us.

Kids line up to buy graves,

nameless,

what for?

How much is enough?

I was raised by the ghost

who haunts the house I grew up in,

a nightmare,

a witness to a sick sort of hunger.

Why not darkness,

when you're the last one left?

What does one call a god

with no worshippers?

This is how it ends,

the horsemen's arrival,

hear the bells.

I'm god enough to know

heaven's just a noise festival.