IT’S A FAMILIAR PLACE HERE

By Olachi Angel Iwehee

This diner is a quiet place of roses,
petals, promises and everything with flowery scents. 
Placed on each table housing happy pairs of 
persons are candle glasses bearing lavender flames.
 
Dinner is a sweet slow course served in three-course. 
The waiters are bright polite beings, speaking in polished tones. 
It’s a familiar place here.
Appetizers roll into the main course. Champagne comes in handy.
Our fingers find one another across the table and
weave themselves; one into the other.

 
He proposes a toast; I second it. A clink of both glasses. 
We sip the velvet liquid. Its sharp sweetness takes 
a leisurely tour to the depth of my stomach. 
More wine. It’s a familiar place here.
 
His blue eyes across the table lights up the night some more. 
Slow, sensual chatter fills the large hall to the brim. 
Across the table, he is saying something about special nights 
and special persons and flowery scents.
 
Somewhere between dessert and our exchange of breaths, 
we settle into our surreal fantasy. The voices around us get dim. 
Our voices find their owners. “I love you,” he says. 
I smile and say his words back to him. 
We breathe in through each other’s nostrils. 
It’s a familiar place here.
“You’re my dream, fantasy and reality,” he breathes out 
and I feel his breath on my skin. I smile again. 
It’s a familiar place here.
Here, dreams are reality and reality is a dream.

Writer's Biography

Olachi Angel Iwehee is a Nigerian poet and storyteller, passionate about telling African stories. Her works explore diversified themes, cutting across love, romance, introspection, and an exposition of human complexities.

She is currently a student of Law at the University of Calabar, Calabar. She bakes and enjoys playing the piano.