Miguel Mitchell's Gallery of Art, Poetry, and Short Films
Ajabu
by Miguel O. Mitchell
(Star*line, volume 45, issue 2, Winter 2022)
On the planet Ajabu
Swahili for “wonder”
The glowing globe fruits sway
Yellow mini suns
On branches green as jade
And just as crystalline
Reaching out
To offer bounty
A silent proffer
To flying gods
The tiny armored ones
Ascending with wings
Two small for Bernoulli's rules
Enchanted with mystic lift
Pierce each fruit
Drink their mead
And send forth dreams
The humans unaware
Insect pestilence they see
Bomb with toxins
Make way, make way
Your conquerors are here
The gods' bodies falter
Drop from the sky
Only shells for spirits
That leave and wait
The fruit
Falls
And
Rots
Sickly grey-green skin
Ruptures
Releasing
Nightmares
Death vacations at Ajabu
Taking souvenirs
The merciless
The innocent
In equal measure
Til the sound of machines
The gasp of human breath
Is replaced
By the hum of wings
The gods return
And such a luminous prize
Greets them
In silent revery
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