What Is Pupation If Not Purgatory Misdefined?
“Never have I known this body to be anything but ululation. / Blessed be the bodies beatified by dolour; / theirs is grief’s gospel, turned flesh.”
Nnamdi Ndiolo
Nnamdi Ndiolo, Swan XIX, is a poet and voice actor of Igbo heritage. A finalist for the Brooklyn Poets Winter Fellowship 2026, the Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize 2025, the Kofi Awoonor Poetry Prize, and winner of the Lucky Jefferson Poetry Contest 2025 and the Fiction Factory Poetry Prize 2025, his work explores the intersection of faith, grief, identity, erasure, state violence and their impact on pre- and post-colonial African history. He has been published in New Orleans Review, The Shallow Tales Review, OnlyPoems, Yarnz Magazine, The Kalahari Review, and Konya Shamsrumi. He tweets @mirrorofbryan and grams at @firelord_bryan. Reach him at ndiolonnamdi@gmail.com.