reddened by the blood of the death god.

does this mean I have unlocked immortality?

I do not know what to believe anymore. when

the god of death came to take me away, to reap my soul

from the field of life, I tore his heart out with a knife

& consumed it. afterwards, I asked the silent heavens;

does this qualify as an initiation? for I have eaten a gods heart

& drank his lifeblood to quench my thirst. does this make me, too,

a god?

step two: learn the true names of all things. the wind, the sea,

the silence & shadows, death. I learned the names

of death & became undying. I learned the name of fire & became

the unburnt. I learned the name of war & became a conqueror—

I learned the name of the gods & took their place in heaven.

step three: create. from the sands by the sea, I built castles

& formed clouds into winged horses. at my command, barren skies

birthed birds of paradise & great monsters rose from beneath the earth.

my creations full the cosmos & I sit back in satisfaction. in time, I raise a pantheon

of worthy gods to rule beside me & somewhere in the world I created,

a mortal schemes & stops believing, starts learning the name of things

& thinks of all he will create.

on feast days, he held the kola in his hands & blessed it
before splitting it in two and throwing one half to the ground.
The gods must eat. Never forget to feed the gods, He said.

my grandfather always poured palmwine to the ground before drinking
because the earth is always thirsty—for wine, for blood, for sweat.
Do not neglect the earth. From her we came, to her we return, He said.

the day my grandfather died, he was asleep in his room
when the earth opened up and swallowed him,
& when she was satisfied, she spat out his mangled remains.
He forgot to feed her so she took his blood to feed herself.
I wish I had been able to tell my grandfather,
Who the gods want to destroy, they turn into a slave.