ALVIN KATHEMBE
hollow victories
“one more win like this and we’re done for” — Pyrrhus
being informed, by someone descending a stepladder
(which they fold and carry off with them)
that the grapes, as you suspected,
really are sour after all
a malicious bee’s hateful body
broken in two—
after it has already stung you
hearing, through the grapevine,
that the love of your life
(who does not reciprocate your feelings,
but who, nevertheless, thinks of you very fondly, as a friend)
is unhappy in their current relationship
the announcement of the death of a tyrant
who dies, ripe and old,
of ripeness, of eld,
after a long, happy life
spent spreading suffering and death—
lying in state;
shriveled as a raisin,
yet, somehow, still swollen with the excesses of life;
bloated from the bounty plundered,
snatched from starveling mouths
Alvin Kathembe is a writer from Nairobi, Kenya. His poetry has been featured in Dust Poetry Magazine, The Short Story Foundation Journal, Poetry Potion, and other publications. He co-edited down river road’s third issue—’Asphyxia’. His short stories have been published in Jalada, Omenana, Brittlepaper and Equipoise, available on Kindle. Find him on Twitter @SofaPhilosopher.