RECOMPENSE FOR DAMAGE, BY MICHAEL AKUCHIE

                                   I’ve never cared for the National Anthem.
                                                      —Ada Limón​

What do I owe you who heaves
against my voice? Somewhere
between the gallop of my feet
& destination boasts a policeman.
Power in my country is an affliction.
His rifle smacks against the crown
of a civilian. Civilian whose rights
are threaded with constitution.
Justice is expensive shit.
I can't afford it so why work
my bones to pretend?
Why serve you whose gratitude
is waist-deep in carnage?
I hum the anthem
because a terror shadows me.
Why worship with harmony this anthem?
The terror is government
with its several spikes
of law-enforcement. My means
to rebel is a shrill cry.
A flare gun launched
into an edition of night.
O helm of predators, listen.
I blossom into phoenix.
My voice is a republic carved
from the rib of rage, 
an honest light of day.

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Michael Akuchie is a poet proud of his Igbo-Esan heritage. His debut chapbook, Wreck (The Hellebore Press, 2020), selected by José Olivarez, received the 2019-2020 Hellebore Poetry Scholarship Award. He reads submissions for Frontier Poetry and Whale Road Review. He tweets @Michael_Akuchie.