Christina Chin / Uchechukwu Onyedikam

In The Act

walking

learning to walk

with the sun

_____glorious tan
_____on the body

to the mountains

hiking 
map butterfly 
tattoo 

cooling

_____whitest sand
_____fresh coconut in Perhentian

from the summer heat

an involuntary expression 
breath of relief 

a night with cicadas

_____if you haven’t heard
_____them in numbers

a child says

begins babbling 
learning…
sounds 

he loves me gazillion

_____good memories
_____we must keep

to infinity

knock knock 
hands on a full stomach 

Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet from Malaysia. She is a four-time recipient of top 100 in the mDAC Summit Contests, exhibited at the Palo Alto Art Center, California. 1st prize winner of the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest. 1st prize winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama 2019 Photohaiku Contest. She has been published in numerous journals, multilingual journals, and anthologies, including Japan’s prestigious monthly Haikukai Magazine.

Uchechukwu Onyedikam is a Nigerian “mad” creative artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. He’s a well-published Poet. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, The Hooghly Review, Unlikely Stories Mark V, and in anthologies both print and online. He and Christina Chin have co-written and published two poetry chapbooks — Pouring Light On The Hills (December 2022) and Clouds of Pink (March 2024).