Five Renga Poems - Collaboration by Christina Chin (Malaysia) & Uchechukwu Onyedikam (Nigeria)

 

Renga Poetry Collaboration by Christina Chin (Malaysia) & Uchechukwu Onyedikam (Nigeria)

black war—

driving out the crows 

the Aborigines

holding off 

for decades

— Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

pale sunlight 

the musty scent of cassava

peeling and washing

spices on chickpeas

feed the whole family

— Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

the love

Niger River

between us 

ferry fares bargain

at the jetty

— Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

indiscriminate

use of chemical 

pest control

bombing 

to kill an ant

— Christina Chin/Uchechukwu Onyedikam

wrinkled silence

of an aged Ìyánífá

rubbing her hands

children emerge 

and rise

— Uchechukwu Onyedikam/Christina Chin

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 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)