Longlisted/Shortlisted Poem: “What the Wind Remembers About Tomorrow”
CHRISTIAN EMECHETA is a content creator who blends writing, illustration, and computer science. His fiction and poetry have featured in prestigious publications, including Arts Lounge Magazine, Step Away Magazine, and The Decolonial Passage. He has also contributed to several works by Cranked Anvil Press, Walden’s Poetry and Reviews, and Mocking Owl Roost. CHRISTIAN finds inspiration through reading, film, and wandering in the boundless landscapes of his imagination.
What the Wind Remembers About Tomorrow
We inherited tales graced with the prayers of our forefathers,
each sentence a benediction passed down through generations
of lungs that refused to forget how to worship
even when songs were forbidden.
The atmosphere carried their heart desires in its molecules
of oxygen seasoned with everything they felt for us.
Certain winds know our true calling—
they whisper secrets the earth told them
about roots that run deeper than oceans,
about trees that remember when this land
was younger and wilder and more hospitable.
These winds carry messages from the unborn,
words written in the scroll of hope.
In the library of history, we read stories
written in star formations and bird flight.
The weather is in a constant conversation,
discussing what was and what might be.
Rain speaks in the old tongues while the
sun translates for those who’ve forgotten.
There are storms that arrive not to destroy
but to retell what we thought we knew,
to scatter seeds that only grow in chaos.
These tempests are teachers;
they remind us that sometimes
the most beautiful things require
a little breaking first.
The air we breathe today
was breathed by prophets and rebels,
by children who grew up to change the world,
by mothers who sang wars to sleep.
This inheritance connects us all
to the voices that ever dared to speak truth
to a world that preferred our silence.