Easter Bouquet 2025: West Coast Swings on Easter's Dawn, by Nas Jolaade

Nas Jolaade is an undergraduate student at the University of Ibadan, working to establish his voice as a writer. His work has appeared in Brittle Paper, Prime Magazine, and INNOTECH 2.0 Magazine. He was a finalist for the 2024 Kofi Awoonor Poetry Prize. He tweets as @thejolaade.  

West Coast Swings on Easter's Dawn

The morning stretches like a held note,
its first light burnishing rooftops with gold.

Easter stirs in the quietude of dawn,
soft as linen unfurling on sunlit balconies,

Bold as bells scattering hallelujahs into the sky,
and soon, shoes click against cobblestone.

Not in a hurry, but in rhythm,
as if the streets themselves sway

To the pulse of something risen.
Something endless, in motion.

West Coast swings on Easter’s dawn,
where footsteps write music on waking streets.

Where silence yields to ecstasy of festival,
to breath, to light, to living.

Somewhere, a child flings open a door,
wrapped in wool and wonder,

Breath rising like mist in the crisp air,
enjoying Easter’s taste.

Somewhere, a mother sings while slicing bread,
her voice warm as candlelight.

And the world, restless,
turns into the arms of Easter.

Lighter, unburdened,
Alive.