"strange" by ikem ukeka

to live in the diaspora
is to return to your homeland and appear as a stranger while there a stranger approached me and spoke some english that was broken carried by pidgin – i received only a few pieces.
 
half at peace and half uneased.
i’m nigerian: i could regurgitate a reply in my stale, remnant accent from childhood
i’m american: he’d smell the tainted accent and perceive how rotten it is.
 
to live in the diaspora
is to be in your homeland and appear as a stranger while here strangers approach me to question where i’m from because of the lingo spoken with my people – igbo.
 
half at peace and half uneased
 
i’m nigerian : i’m american

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Ikem “Na-Chi” Ukeka is a Physical Therapy doctoral candidate at Midwestern University. He dabbles in different forms of poetry, from hip-hop to spoken word. Some of his poems have been published by Fathom, Poached Hare, & Barren. In addition, he is the author of the chapbook, “y. Solo” (LuLu Press, 2017), which is available as a hardcopy and digitally via major e-book distributors. You can follow him on Twitter @Ikem_NaChi.