Touched*     I She took the phone And left in the rain They loved her Broke her neck And mangled her body: “I fished her out this morning” Her father said, very slowly “They dumped her in the pond”; Nor mud nor time Could blot the unsightly Wound on her thighs –   Agwu öcha!* “Cover her face Mine eyes dazzle She died young.”   II Season to Dry-leaf season Nwogiri sat in A bereft door Blank eyes On ashen soles That trailed the Long road of Ezeowere for A son whose Infinite Homecoming Stopped at Ugwumbaa.     *”Touched” is excerpted from the forthcoming poetry collection, Unspeakable Protocols (2009). “Agwu ocha” is the oxymoronic god of vengeful creativity. The Igbo god of creativity, Agwu, is the twin sibling of Ara ("Madness"). Agwu has two essences (which some describe as a twin): Agwu oji, which is the black or benevolent and benign creative spirit; and Agwu ocha, which is the white or malevolent and malignant spirit. Agwu oji may be invoked to aid one's creative enterprise or to protect one from the evil eye or the green-eyed monster. Agwu ocha may be invoked to avenge one's injury or to wreak havoc on one's opponent or enemy, as the grieving father does in "Touched." For the destructive manifestations of Agwu ocha, see: Obiwu. "The Rampage of Igbo Creative Avatar, Agwu Ocha." Obiwu Blogspot. July 19, 2009. http://obiwu.blogspot.com/2009/07/rampage-of-igbo-creative-avatar-agwu.html (accessed 8 December 2009). For Agwu's essence as a "god of war," see: Obiwu. "Of the Erinye, Nemesis, and Ikarugbe: The Form and Functions of Curse Poetry." The Bulletin of African Religion and Culture 4.2 (Nov 1995): 93-100. Afam Ebeogu deals with three “cosmogonic types” of Agwu (including “Agwu Nsi,” “Agwu Afa,” and “Agwu Mkpologwu”) in his forthcoming essay, “The Socio-Cultural Contexts of Obiwu’s Rituals of the Sun” (2010).     Biodata   Obiwu studied at universities in Nigeria and at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. His books include Unspeakable Protocols (2009), Tigress at Full Moon (2010), The World of Barack Obama (ed., 2010), Igbos of Northern Nigeria (1996), and Rituals of the Sun (1992).