it has already happened
that is why you feel
the golden warmth
of familiarity
an ancient decree
has unfolded
around you
inside you
origami lungs contract
to give it room
so sudden
it has momentarily
electrocuted sense
natural enough
for the wise body
to withstand
About the Poet
Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu is an African writer and poet born in Bordeaux, France and based in London, UK. A SOAS Anthropology and International Relations graduate, her work explores African belonging and identity as well as Tasawwuf / the spiritual dimension of Islam. Soukeyna is involved in Black activism and runs several projects for the Black community in North London. She is co-founder and EIC of MZAB magazine, a quarterly online publication which explores adventure, culture and spirituality, and in her spare time has a keen interest in global healing practices, ritual and film production.
This poem appears in ALL THE BIRDS WERE INVITED TO A FEAST IN THE SKY by Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu
This is a book which excavates identity and self-knowledge, a journey from the spiritual realm which also attempts to stitch whole the frayed fibres of diasporic belonging. The areas explored range from Africa to spiritual awakening taking the reader on a journey to self. Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu’s verse evokes the beauty of the earthly and spiritual realms of human experience, navigating a poetic course from London to Ghana through themes of belonging and faith. Her poems dance at the intersection between the mundane and the sacred, weaving the everyday through with perceptions of the eternal, the ancient and the evanescent.
