If God Is the Sun

Why are women who fly called witches?

If they have wings, aren’t they birds?

Come and meet my father who leaves his beards

Dangling like feathers.

He is calling me to read the Bible in the sun.

I have taken flight.

Is it true the sun is the face of God?

What then is a shooting star? How many bullets does it have?

& why do we pray to a gun?

My father buried his rib under the belt of Orion

Before he began the trek to hellfire,

said, there is nothing in this body

That deserves salvation except my wife.

In hell, I found my poetry ablaze.

I touched the raging fire and wondered,

Isn’t God burning too?

If God is the sun, then who is hellfire?

If God is the sun, then who is darkness?

Of what use is a light so bright it blinds the eye?

The song of the universe is mostly a solo

& only a blind woman can see its waves

If she dares to sing along, will her tongue sprout wings?

If she dares to fly, does that make her a witch?

If God is the sun, will fire fall down from heaven

& consume her?

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Iyanu Adebiyi is a Nigerian based writer, poet, and performer. She works as a lawyer at a local firm. Her poems have been published in several publications, including Odd Magazine, African Writers, and elsewhere.