Exit Poem by Felix Bongjoh

Exit
After my loved one's demise
Was announced
By the explosive thunder of an acquaintance's mumble,
Speaking in a low subdued tone,
I knew I could no longer stay
Under the flowery
Jubilation of the ceiling's candelabra, twinkling mirth,
Unable to drill through
The heavy clog of sorrows that had built up
On the numb
Steel wall of my corroded spirits.

I took the exit at the stray back door,
Hoping to stay far, far away
From the umbra,
The ill-fated gathering of mumbling persons
Wishing a colleague farewell.
Hoping to find a penumbra
For some intense meditation,
The depth
Of a darkening
Moon
Among a million blinking stars
Fleeting away like haunted hog moths.

I took the back door
Where the sun was just flashing
Its touch again,
My heart still brewing bubbles
On the empty stale
Surface of me in withered
Flecks of petals.

As I walked across the garden.
A little child accosted me
And tucked into my right hand
A tiny shiny petal. And tucked into my heart
An unknown smile and giggle
That lit up a candle
In the pitch-dark corridor of my narrow straight
Of wild weeds
And plants in frog-back skin of blight.

From the jungle
Of a wild party, wild news, wild revelry
Growing thorny branches,
I stepped down
Through a staircase,
Jumped into the brighter garden in my car:
The unknown child's petals
Shone brighter than the stars
In my glovebox,
Where my phone rang with a call
From a maternity home:
"Bouncing baby, all smiles,
A new entrance to the world".
Indeed, an exit from gloom
In the deep dungeon of a Hawaii volcano.