Kwame Opoku-Duku is a Ghanaian-American poet and fiction writer. He is the author of The Unbnd Verses (Glass Poetry Press), and his work is featured in Poetry Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review, BOMB, Apogee, The Literary Review, Bettering American Poetry, and other publications.
SONNET FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD
Kwame Opoku-Duku
you will be in your living room, dinging melismas.
everything you utter is a prayer. your tears
water the lush earth as an offering to the lord.
from out of nowhere, a Chevy Caprice pulls up,
the windows roll down, St. Michael starts blasting.
in a drawn-out falsetto, he sings, the day of the lord
is a bitter motherlover. you look out the window.
the world is on fire. every moment is spent on your knees.
everything you utter is a prayer. dona nobis pacem.
out of nowhere, a Chevy Caprice pulls up, Michael
starts blasting, everybody hits the floor. the Caprice
pulls away, Mike’s falsetto rings: if you think you’re
holy now, baby, wait until tonight. it feels good when
you cry out. your battered lungs wail a soulful tune.