today

today, first published in 2017, is a book of six poems set in lower case throughout, about treating the present day as a position rather than a destination. Its title poem sets the terms — “today is a passing phase and not the place that i'll always be” — a vantage point for looking back at the old todays and forward at the ones not yet defined. The rest work outward from there: a tree that sheds and regrows without complaint, the subtle difference between worrying about a lot and thinking about a lot, death as a stalker that follows closer than a shadow, and self-improvement as a process with no finish line.

Innocent Mwatsikesimbe writes in plain speech rather than ornament, in a quiet register that states its hard facts and moves on — born with a sour spoonful in his mouth, an insomniac who has seen dark times. The poems can be read in any order, and the book settles on gratitude that has stopped needing a reason, and a mind set on letting light in until day comes round again.