island
paradise—
deep inside
the red corallium reefs
first taste of scuba dive

a cloud
of swooping
swallows—
snapdragons
sprout

an oil spill
melts into the river
Niger Delta
breathing
and drinking oil

bunkering
silence of the law
chewing slowly
the black market
fuel boom

poverty ravaged land
beauty under its feet
environmental damage
the gold
depleted mines

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. 1st 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 mad creative artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, The Hooghly Review, and in print anthologies. Christina Chin and he have co-published Pouring Light on the Hills (2022), and forthcoming release — CLOUDS OF PINK from LJMcD Communications, 2024.
Comments