The Burden of Brother Johnny
1960's independence
the Master's hands
still on her breast
pouring his best wine
she doesn't drink
bullied electorates
their voices
unspoken
vote counting blackout
phantom votes
bribes at the polling
station an open secret
—postelection
imagine the hardship
in many dialects
greed
of the candidates
I cannot name
masses in the country
a homeless camp
the man who's bound
cannot form a revolution
the landfilling
the gold diggers
siphon off our nation
strong accent
on his tongue who barely
speaks prosperity
fills his own pockets
nothing for the people
Bridled by fear as he carries on with his daily task to succumb to prejudice stacked up against him, war pollution is his pasture; dragging his feet, watching his flame burn down to the ground. Street protest he once attempted, inscribed on his banner was Freedom & Bread a self-expression of a man who dreams of breaking free from the bondage of political malpractices:
one Tuesday night
at his righteous ground,
was shot without smoke
how many will die
for a cause?
Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet from Malaysia. She is a four-time recipient of top 100 in the mDAC Summit Contests, exhibited at the Palo Alto Art Center, California. 1st prize winner of the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest. She was the first prize winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama 2019 Photohaiku Contest. She has been published in numerous journals, multilingual journals, and anthologies, including Japan's prestigious monthly Haikukai Magazine.
Uchechukwu Onyedikam is a Nigerian Photographer and, a well-published Poet based in Lagos, Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, The Hooghly Review, and in different themes of anthology both print and online. He and Christina Chin has co-written and published two poetry chapbooks — Pouring Light On The Hills (December 2022) and Clouds of Pink (March 2024).
