Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu

All the Birds Were Invited to a Feast in the Sky Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu

i share this with you all

because a green boat

has since come to collect me




i saw a ghanaian fisherman

moored on the thames

and i didn't think twice

as i sailed away




This is a book which excavates identity and self-knowledge, a journey from the spiritual realm which also attempts to stitch whole the frayed fibres of diasporic belonging. The areas explored range from Africa to spiritual awakening taking the reader on a journey to self. Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu's verse evokes the beauty of the earthly and spiritual realms of human experience, navigating a poetic course from London to Ghana through themes of belonging and faith.




in the basement of the heart

cartographies of dispossession occupy the rhythm




Her poems dance at the intersection between the mundane and the sacred, weaving the everyday through with perceptions of the eternal, the ancient and the evanescent.




i thumb through each black orb, counting the time

breath and matter, life and death, another human story

with the same rosary that made its way to me

that may outlive my fingers

purchase these nights before they purchase you

rain pouring into the lake at lordship rec

and a hundred and one purple clouds pulsating-

the edge of our galaxy almost visible

through the london smog




About the Author




Soukeyna Osei-Bonsu is an African writer and poet born in Bordeaux, France and based in London, UK. A SOAS Anthropology and International Relations graduate, her work explores African belonging and identity as well as Tasawwuf / the spiritual dimension of Islam. Soukeyna is involved in Black activism and runs several projects for the Black community in North London. She is co-founder and EIC of MZAB magazine, a quarterly online publication which explores adventure, culture and spirituality, and in her spare time has a keen interest in global healing practices, ritual and film production.