Poetry by Sel Kofiga

The man, is in a box covered with a
white veil
Who made the man; they say he is an
image of a certain God
He cannot breathe, his heart pounds
against his chest hoping
for freedom
His body is in the midst of a struggle,

He wants, out of this body

The man, is in a box covered with a
white veil
Everywhere he looks, he
turn to see confined men all graved in
the box
Their veins are yearning for a moment
to stretch
Their arms and thoughts are rendered
useless, lying squeezed
against each other’s body.
Their thoughts and senses, all rendered
useless too
Their backs are strained in cramped
positions,

He wants, out of this body

The man, is in a box covered with a white veil
Inside the dimensions of the box feels
like a prison, he is paralyzed, immobilized,
shattered in fragments of fear,
He finds himself amongst altering
monstrous screams…..
He is stuck too, moving his manliness in
the same position
as the other men
—he is making himself feel he has to be
hard, the men around
him say so
They said it is the man code, called
machismo; every man
must pursue it

The man, is in a box covered with a white
veil
Here he sees men walking around in the
box, all they do is
watch
he loosens his bare hands in explaining
something of no meaning
to the other men, he pulls his flesh from
the moving moments,
He is unpacking the impact that the
currents in the box has placed
on him, an aggressive weight
His heart races

But he wants, out of this body

The man, is in a box covered with a white
veil
He is succeeding,
Conquering, fighting with himself and the
veil
— the standards make him uncomfortable in
his man skin, humming
a soundless tune of self-doubt
He doesn’t want to be a man?
No, he doesn’t want to toughen up, it kills
him. The man box
kills him
He does not want to adhere to the terms of
masculinity
Control is their ego; they like to grip on
everything and
never slip away, because they are to be
strong

But all he ever wanted, is to move out of
the man box

Words and Photos by Sel Kofiga

Bio
Sel Kofiga is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses his work as a creative voice to challenge social political power structures and conflicting issues on politics of representation in the human space. Find him on all platforms @selkofiga