Poems by Selina Nwulu

Cuppa


Put the kettle on.
I’m not being funny but he’s well fit
no, you don’t understand 
they’re all sinking in the Mediterranean sea
I’m actually speaking objectively here
our borders have become dense and long
it’s more an observation really
his face is near symmetrical
and their ships have burst into splints 
it’s hypnotising 
the sea is bloated with people’s limbs
it’s post attraction really
I’m appreciating him as a work of art 
their memories did not make it either
well, of course I wouldn’t say no! 
they’re all sinking in the Mediterranean sea 
but that’s not the point
anyway, we still going out Friday?
watch how the bubbles float and pop.
Kettle’s boiled.





Two Sides of a Coin


There is a girl, who looks like me, 
walking through the streets of Lagos.
She is freshly plucked mangoes and forehead beads of sweat.
She is flat shoes and a head wrap on Sundays.
She is a collision of patterns chasing each other.


She looks like me but her vowel sounds have shrunk,
there are no Yorkshire undertones here.
Instead she speaks in half songs,
rolls Igbo off her tongue like blooming hibiscus 
and wears her ancestors’ sayings on her chest like armour.


She weaves through this downtown scene in fluid choreography: 
the joke thrown to a passing neighbour,
the pause and smell of the pile of peppers in the market.
Each act has a home in this moving composition,
you can see her belonging in the sway of her hips.


If you look closely enough, 
you can see how her shoulders sigh like mine,
can hear her life in the drag of her flat feet
and feel their tendency to wander. 
We both laugh with the weight and depth of a church bell.
On a good day it will throw our heads back.


Sometimes I see these two versions of myself 
like two sides of a coin: heads – here, tails – over there.
I wonder why the coin landed on this side.
I wonder which version would have laughed the most. 

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About the poet


Selina Nwulu is a writer, poet and performer. Her work is an exploration of both the personal and political which she weaves with themes of identity, daily observation, nostalgia, and belonging. 
Her first chapbook collection, The Secrets I Let Slip was published by Burning Eye Books in September 2015 and was a Poetry Book Society recommendation. As well as writing for a number of online outlets such as the Guardian and Red Pepper, her poetry has also been published by Emma Press, Lunar Poetry, Free Word and the RSA.

“Rarely do we see political issues handled so beautifully”-  Esther Kuforiji, Blavity 

She is currently Young Poet Laureate for London 2015-6, a prestigious award that recognizes talent and potential in the capital. So far during her tenure she has read at Cúirt Literature Festival, Galway, and StAnza poetry festival, St Andrews, in which she was labelled as, ‘an emerging writer to watch’. She has also read at both the House of Commons and the Lords. 

She has previously performed at a number of festivals including Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe and Fiery Tongues Festival in Ruigoord, Holland. She has also previously toured nationally with Apples and Snakes, representing London as part of the ‘Public Address II tour’ as well as performing internationally at an EU Environmental Human Rights Conference in Budapest. 

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