ANY LAST WORDS.
(Chapter 3 of film Back on Home Soil)
A friend says, grief leaves everyone behind
She ruminates on her words and goes grief leaves no one behind
It shows in the way grief leaves a fraction in memory:
Recollections once pristine are now defiled by absence
The emptiness fills the room
It permeates thorough and through
Like leaking light searching for darkness to exorcise, it shines!
And every time we speak it glows,
A polished grief.
GRIEF: STILL WATER
Six years after Adieu
my tongue is still an empty house that echoes nothing but grief
I’m still tongue tied
yet to write the tribute. the last time I
tried it looked like this;
my grandmother leaves the earth
I dwindle like trees
disappear into grief
reappear again
repeat.
I do not know if the form of the poem was too weak to house your glory. or if this grief is yet ripe
or if this grief is still water– and there’s no one to duck me
into the pool when the water is troubled.
In our attempts to find closure
To compress a mountain into a molehill
We ask a lot of questions. We do not get a response
But it is better to have asked and not receive
Than to have never asked at all
GRIEF: A QUESTIONNAIRE.
PART 2– For my departed SECTION A
INSTRUCTION; As an alumna of grief, please answer as much questions as you can carefully,
sincerely & correctly.
Where are you?
a. heaven b. ancestral plane c. free spirit d. hell e. none of the above
f. If others, please specify
—————————————————————————————————-
Which loss hurt the most?
a. father b. mother c. children d. matrimony e. self
f. If others, please specify
—————————————————————————————————
At what point did you learn the right amount of soil to sprinkle on a grave?
a. loss of second child b. loss of third child c. loss of fourth child
d. loss of fifth child e. you never learn f. If others, please specify
—————————————————————————————————
SECTION B
Did you attend your funeral? YES/NO
Are you at peace? YES/NO
Where is your scapular necklace?
—————————————————————————————————
Have you met your children yet? YES/NO
If yes, what does reunion feel like?
———————————————————————–
If no, why?
———————————————————————–
Do you miss life? YES/NO
If yes, what do you miss?
———————————————————————–
What advice would you give to a person currently grieving?
—————————————————————————————————-
Any last words?
—————————————————————————————————-
Ofem Ubi is a poet, photographer and filmmaker, published in the Deep Dreams Anthology of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize, 2018. He is internationally published and his film Velvet was a selection for the Fringe of Color film festival, 2021, and featured on IS&T in October 2021 here.