j.emmy

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The Persistence of Semblance

father   memory    photograph  me
two continents apart    territory

fighting   fighting    fighting
for clarity   on on an outsider's eyes,

that home conceals   mutual feud.
Mother  pacifist.    lean with bias

and   grudges   grudges       that history
writes from a third-person view

the reader   them all   not one spared
envy my home   a grandiose

a grandiose, a grandiose deceit.
Father  washed   washed   and me
exposed to the naked sun.

Bleached    bleached.   But     but
father is form   and resemblance

everyone sees  but home  but home
knows the truth    and photographs

can attest   that father   that father
is a skin I wear   but does not know
how to cover my nude.

j.emmy is a Nigerian poet. His work has appeared in The Shallow Tales Review and Ekstasis. His work is forthcoming in Covert Literary Magazine, Issue 6: Water/Water in People's Lives (2026).