Nostalgic Memories of Times I wish were Present

Just before I make peace with my dreams and call on angels to possess my body
at night, I summon memories my sleepy eyes crave to see and call on the portals

of my past to open so I may relive what I wish were my present. I see an excited me
in the four purple walls of her hostel room listening to carefree students sing Beyoncé

hymns, forgetting they aren’t twenty-four time grammy award winners. Although I feign
anger over the outrageous noise polluting my ears, a smile fights to win ownership of my

lips. Night falls and I see me walk the streets of UNN, calling pretty boys beautiful
and smiling that darkness masks my face from their curious eyes. When I’m done unearthing

memories I only found were beautiful when this disaster casted a shadow on us, I get a feel of
how peace tastes; like my past. This is my daily routine. Reliving days that are long gone and

hoping that present times decide to make its race a sprint, so it would all be over soon and
peace would cease to be the reward of nightly soul-searching.

Yvonne Nezianya is a Nigerian writer, (performance) poet and a final year student of Health Education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She writes to tell silenced stories of young girls and people facing mental health issues. Her short story, Wonders of Spirits, was shortlisted for the K and L Prize 2020. Her works have and will appear in the Micah Anthology by Poets in Nigeria, Black Skin No Mask Anthology, The African Writers Review, Afritondo, Green Black Tales and elsewhere. Connect with her on Instagram @yvonnenezy_writes and twitter @nezi_yvonne.