when you meet god at the Kejetia market
he’ll be trading, either selling or buying
at exorbitant prices & bargaining all through
it. on the first floor, he’s the butcher in apron
who changes the prices of a pound of meat
for every customer per your displayed affluence.
on the second floor, she’s that all-knowing
retailer who shouts at you by any name
just to draw your attention to her stuff. she
passionately wants you to buy because you might
need it when you don’t need it. but on the third
& final floor, he’s the beggar in savasana, gazing
with un-fallen tears & asking for the coins
left after all the purchases. but then you’ve got
none on you because you bought beyond your
budget. you passed him by with enough guilt
for either over-spending or refusing benevolence
& you sit in the car back home thinking about it,
feeling all dumb, pleading for mercy, asking for
forgiveness, & hoping to not do that again.
Sylvester Kwakye
Sylvester Kwakye is a Ghanaian medical student & the author of Flying From Nectar To Hive (Self-Published, 2023) & Ode To My Clinical Rotation (Ghost City Press, 2024) with his poems published in the Archipelago, The Amistad & elsewhere.
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this poem depicts that we have god around us, which brings to mind the words of Christ in the Bible, “because you have done this to those around you, you have likewise done it to me.”
Wonderful.