Reasons to Stay Alive When the World Burns

by Oladosu Michael Emerald

Nishaan ahmed

after Nikita Gill

Because the sky still hangs its blue between the bombs. Because your mother’s voice is a compass needle trembling north. Because the taste of mangoes clings to your teeth like a hymn. Because the boy on the bus folded his laughter into a paper crane & left it on your seat. Because the moon, even shattered, stitches its light into the cracks of your ribs. Because your father’s hands, calloused & whiskey-stung, once cradled a fledgling sparrow back to its wings. Because the river remembers your name. Because the graffiti on the bridge says still here in spray-paint scarlet. Because the girl at the market sells lemons like they’re grenades of sunlight. Because the old woman on the porch sings to her dead husband, & the notes linger like smoke. Because your lover’s breath is a metronome beneath your palm. Because the earth insists on green. Because the children draw galaxies in the dust with sticks. Because the dog with three legs still chases pigeons. Because the last page of the book you’re reading is a door. Because the coffee is bitter & the bread is warm. Because the war hasn’t killed the word tomorrow. Because even wounds, given time, bloom into something unnamed but alive. Because you are alive, & alive, & alive — & the heart, that reckless anarchist, won’t stop beating its fists against the dark.

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Oladosu Michael Emerald is a writer, artist, and actor. He is the author of “Every Little Thing That Moves,” an art editor at Surging Tide magazine and editor at MAAR Review and instructor at the Arnheim Art Gallery and Young Artists Art Hub. He is the winner of the Off the Limit Art Contest (2024), Sprinng Poetry Contest (2024), Garden Party Collective Neurodivergent Poetry Contest (2025), and Sine Qua Non Inaugural Poetry Prize (2025). His works have been published or are forthcoming in Chestnut Review, FIYAH, Lolwe, Temz Review, and elsewhere. He is the Pioneer Fellow of the Muktar Aliyu Art Residency. Follow him on Twitter @garricologist and Instagram @garrycologist.