Angie Hedman
Sketch of the Deadliest Weapon
I know,
missiles bring down
cities. I haven’t unseen Hiroshima. / But
I’ve seen a grenade go toe-to-toe with the
red coal in our mouths & the former waxed away
instantaneously. / Yes, many things kill a man,
but a grenade makes sure its victim
stay unaware of its breathlessness. A tongue
kills a man, & he lives on
believing he’s not alive. / I know
this because I once wheeled one of its victims
to the emergency wing of hope, to bring her
back from the land of the dead, the
land of hopelessness. She spent weeks recovering
from the
burns in her heart & in her spirit. It
was an experience wickedly torn apart from ‘beautiful’.
One thing carries the world;
love. / But
perhaps we’ve been taught one too many times
of the many ways to kill a rat, that we now see
that next door neighbour walking with four legs.
Charles Nnanna is a follower of Christ, and son to loving parents. He’s an emerging writer whose works has appeared or are forthcoming in The Global Youth Review, Eboquills, Kalahari, Ngiga Review, Afro Literary Magazine and elsewhere. He’s an undergrad of mass communication at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria—and lives in Abuja where he writes from. You could connect with him via Twitter or Instagram @runnyink_.
Angie Hedman is an artist, writer, and middle school art educator who creates and resides in the great Midwest of Muncie, IN. She holds degrees from Ball State University in the areas of Fine Arts (Metals), and Art Education. Her work has been published, or is forthcoming in Cream City Review, Superstition Review, Montana Mouthful, Spectrum Literary Journal, The Sandy River Review, and Patchwork Lit Mag among others. When she isn’t writing, creating, teaching, or doing family things, she enjoys snuggling with her orange tabby cat, Colby-Jack. She tweets at @artist_writerAH.