You tell me to promise,
so I open my mouth
to give you the words
that your ears long to hear.
But silence comes out.
I can’t make a promise
that I can’t keep.
But you insist.
Promise me, you say.
I try again.
This time, the words come out.
But they are no words
that I intend
to keep.
I have just promised you a lie.
Watching your eyes alight,
my heart breaks.
How I wish that
you wouldn’t
believe me.
Shoshana Cohen
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About Ijagun Poetry Journal
Ijagun Poetry Journal is a quarterly journal that provides a platform from which we can tell our own stories in the authenticity of their multiplicity through the poetic medium. We don’t want to hear these stories from our master “griots” alone; we want to hear from those mastering their art, too. Hence, we aim at publishing new and emerging poets. We also welcome the works of established poets in order to encourage the poetic genius of those mastering poetic art. We prize original works that conform to, break or reinvent conventions. Again, we accept reviews and critical essays on poetry. We also accept powerful art works and photographs that make us appreciate the "poetry" in everything.