at work a colleague traces my tremor
to the sausage roll in my hand
her face a collage of sympathy
she suggests i get a girlfriend
or learn to eat out
at home a doctor friend traces my tremor
to poor eating & anxiety
he suggests i eat well
& sometimes make jokes in public
but these roads do not lead to my body
fear gargles in my throat
shading the little light i cling on to
Ugochukwu Damian Okpara, Nigerian writer & Poet, is the 1st Runner Up in the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize 2019. He was one of the 21 mentees in the second cohort of the SprinNG Fellowship, and an alumnus of the Purple Hibiscus Trust Creative Writing Workshop. His works have appeared/forthcoming in African writer, Kreative Diadem, Barren Magazine, The Penn Review, Rising Phoneix Press and elsewhere. He is currently interning as the Contributing Interviewer for Poetry at Africa in Dialogue.