Snapshots from Oguta Lake, 2025

By James-Ibe Chinaza

Powder-blue silk spread, 
like mother at rest on Sunday evenings. 
Powder-blue, marvelous blue—brown-hemmed
swoosh of bohemian skirt. 
On the surface of your stomach, pebble-sized
and humbled, you keep us. 

Flanking you on one side—
naked woman, naked child
perched on the gentle rise of her breasts. 
On the other, 
boys playing throwball in the mire.
Naval boats—yawning mouths hidden in 
short shadows. 

On deck,
two life jackets locked in an armless embrace;
navy-blue BMW, bonnet incised with rust. 

How quickly you patch yourself 
as we slice through your torso like a catena
of tickled surgeons. How you tighten your stitches 
for our return. 

Ishtar. 
For miles, you hold the heavens. 

On your banks, 
a black-eyed ewe suckles her lamb, 
muzzle angled at the camera. 
Two black sheep stroll 
across the vast grey. 

How the sun makes sequins of your ripples.

BIO:
Chinaza James-Ibe writes and practices photography in Nigeria. Her work has appeared in Poetry Sango-Ota, Akewi, Isele Magazine, Lolwe, The Shallow Tales Review, Agbowo, Brittle Paper, and elsewhere.