I have come to love how I can invoke laughter
by sending the meme of a man taking off his glasses
who would think something this ordinary
is enough to cause a miracle
lately I do not pray for miracles like the gif of
the woman looking for God in a gallery
my gallery is an island of little miracles
inserts a meme here as proof
which is to say that every picture is as holy
as an empty blue sky. what is an empty blue sky
if not another moment waiting to become a meme
today I realized I have become unfamiliar with words
my conversations have become a trade of emojis & pictures
shhh. do not say I love you. instead. let a jpeg read me
all the sonnets this eight lettered phrase cannot carry
I cannot carry the name of anything that isn’t digital
like the word for a hungry river or a lonely tree
or a child who’s trying to catch the wind with his cloth
see how forgetful I have become
my only memories are what sit in the hands
of a thirsty tree asking for rain
—
Jay Kophy is a Ghanaian poet and writer. His poems are forthcoming and have been featured in literary magazines such as AGNI, FourWay Review, Indianapolis Review, Glass Poetry, Kalahari Review, Tampered Press and many others. He is the winner of the inaugural Samira Bawumia Literature Prize in poetry. You can find him on Twitter @jay_kophy.
Photography by: Eric Patnoudes
