DECEMBER 2025, POETRY
Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan (he/him/his) is an MFA candidate at the university of Nevada, Las Vegas, a speculative writer of Izzi, Abakaliki ancestry; a multiple finalist for both the Rhysling and Ignyte Awards, a nominee for the Forward Prize, Pushcart Prize, and Best of The Net Award; a data science/analyst techie, and a licensed Medical Laboratory Scientist. He was the winner of the 2025 Tamarack Prize, 2024 Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry, and the 2021 Write About Now “Cookout” Literary Prize. He has works published or forthcoming at Strange Horizons, FIYAH Magazine, Uncanny Mag, Fantasy Magazine, Nightmare Magaine, Augur Magazine, Arc Poetry Magazine, Filednotes Journal, SAND Journal, Kernel Magazine, The Deadlands, The Storms, Mizna, etc. He tweets @wordpottersull1.
Behind the Scenes with Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan
What was the initial inspiration for this poem, and were there significant changes from that inspiration through edits and revisions?
The poem reflects the present political situation of my home country, Nigeria, and this reflection comes from a place of contrast with my experiences of the responsive and functional systems here in America. The truth is that one may never know how hard the government back home makes life for an average Nigerian until one gets to experience life elsewhere.
Although the earlier version of this poem was written while I was still processing my visa to the United States, the purpose that the poem strived to fulfill became even clearer upon my relocation. So much of the poem spoke into the future before I even met it, and like a journey, a poem is always ahead of us; so even after I met the clarity of this piece upon my relocation, it is still constantly living on and evolving beyond everything I could have initially pointed out as the inspiration behind the piece, if you had perhaps, asked me same question before my relocation.
In all, when by birth, you inherited a nation that forges everything to eclipse your dreams, regardless of how loud your patriotism is towards it, do you blame the nation for choosing to be the way it is, or God for gifting you a country that ruins you more than your sins?—The poem chooses to do both, and draws from both points as its source of inspiration.
Except for the title which was initially a blank parenthesis, “[ ],” the poem did not alter any point of its perspective through the editing processes, it only kept growing and evolving as a journey which it is, and every day is a new experience with it, for me, and I hope it’s the same for any reader who connects with it.
How does this poem fit into your body of work – is it similar in ways to what you usually
write or is it very different?
My poetry explores the themes of chronic diseases, bad governance, domestic violence, and my day-to-day life, so this poem fits exactly into that. Poetry is a tool of change, and I explore mine to make an effort towards the course of improving the society in which I was born, no matter how little. So even when the tone in this piece could read or sound strong, it is not meant to ridicule, instead, it functions to amplify, and this is what I want my poems to do—to be a voice that never stops growing.
Currently, I am working on curating my maiden full body of work which explores chronic diseases and their impacts on families, however, I am also writing and putting together poems that explore the political atmosphere of Nigeria. So while this piece does not essentially fit into the current body of work I’m working on, it does fit into the next project I will be embarking on right after I’m done with my present project.