by NATACHI MEZ

Drumhead

earthquake of palm & skin
shattering nothing
but our will to stand still
my hips become active fault line
I dance and you talk
with your hands full
of Orishas & bass & tone & slap
diasporic drum resurrecting
every language that died
is undead
unrecognized ancestors
are still ancestors,
the medium in which
life begat life begat life
begat boom duh duh
drumbeat tells me where I come from
and I am everything that made me at once

---

Little Gods

writers have mercy
it is written

that you are little gods
and everything you pen is born

and we were penned
and we be mad at/ God

have mercy
we pen little worlds mad at little gods

is it our job to
have mercy/ or to

reflect the God/ we’ve been given
mercy laced into saliva

mercy inextricable from what
breaks down, we

swallow or spit pride
depending on which side of the pen

we stand/ between
author and authored

we are author and authored
not quite trilogy, but still holy

still miracle
still, little gods

---

Natachi Mez (she/her) is a Nigerian American writer, performer, and emcee from the Sacramento area in California. Natachi is a two time finalist at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI), and has featured at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Oberlin College, as well as at venues in Accra, Copenhagen, and Istanbul.
Natachi facilitates dynamic experiences that deepen audience engagement and celebrate community voice. She has facilitated writing and performance workshops at Tufts University, Rutgers University, Rikers Island, and more.
You can find Natachi’s words featured or forthcoming in Interstellar Flight Magazine, Unplug Mag, Gumbo Magazine, Breadcrumbs Magazine, Write About Now, or on instagram @natachi.life.