PRAECORDIUM

My heart palpitates
irregularly at breakneck pace,

making me stand
and sit,

walk and run
with my hands on my praecordium,

pausing and closing
my eyes and mouth,

breathing in and out,
eager for a good breath.

Inalegwu Omapada Alifa is currently a Master’s student of the Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, where he is researching into Stanislavskian Existentialist Aestheticism. Some of his works have found homes in MockingHeart Review, Parousia Magazine, Yellow Chair Review, Lunaris Review, Expound Magazine of Arts and Aesthetics, GFT Series, Manchester Review, GFT Presents One in Four: A Philanthropic Literary and Art Press, poeticdiversity, Visceral Brooklyn, Saraba Magazine, Sentinel Literary Quarterly: The Magazine of World Literature, Eyedrum Periodically,aaduna, Spectrum, and Dialogue.