BLOOD & BONE

Some wars end. The blood stays.

In BLOOD & BONE, the third volume of The Midnight Poetry Collection, Oshioke Anavbs delivers a searing meditation on war, survival, and the stubborn persistence of the human spirit.

Through poems that pulse with the rhythm of gunfire and the whisper of prayers, Anavbs captures what it means to live in the aftermath-to carry the weight of what was lost while still reaching for what remains.

This is poetry that refuses to look away. From the raid on Etchame to the shores of Normandy, from the streets of Lekki to the quiet devastation of a burning village, these verses bear witness.

They speak for the soldier who made peace with one breath, the child who ran barefoot from fire, the martyr who walked bare-chested into the mundane, and the poet whose pen is heavier than her dewy eyes.

Divided into four movements-War & Survival, Social Commentary, Life, Faith & Inspiration, and Love & Heartbreak-BLOOD & BONE is both a chronicle of collective trauma and an intimate portrait of personal endurance. Each poem ends with a refrain that echoes like a heartbeat: The tanks are still here. I am still fleeing. The sea is still stormy. I am still serving. I am still. I am still.

Anavbs writes with the unflinching clarity of someone who has seen too much and the tender hope of someone who refuses to stop seeing. These are poems for the survivors, the watchers, the ones who have walked alone at night and heard something behind them-and kept walking anyway.

BLOOD & BONE is not an easy read. It is not meant to be. It is meant to be felt.