Survivors|Tolu’ A. Akinyemi|Poetry
Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean and turned away by Italy and Malta have arrived in Spain’s port of Valencia. -BBC News.
Dreams carried by the ocean waves,
bodies, sinking boats, no life jackets.
Lives at the mercy of rescue ships
with drunken sailors. Voices echoing
sorrow like spring blizzards.
Tepid hearts beating fast.
Dreams fizzling
when we heard from Rome
not one of us. Dump the outcasts here.
In camp, they folded dark lines
into our already wrinkled faces.
Night after night after night.
Not one note of kindness
ever read to us.
Photo by MARCIN CZERNIAWSKI on Unsplash
Bio:
Tolu’ A. Akinyemi hails from Nigeria and lives in the UK where he has been endorsed by the Arts Council England as a writer with “exceptional talent”. Tolu is the author of seven outstanding books, one of which is a collection of short stories.
His poems have appeared in the 57th issue (Volume 15, no 1) of the Wilderness House Literary Review, The Writers Cafe Magazine Issue 18 and elsewhere.