Motion
by Doxa Zannou ’18
Motion: changing place or position; movement
Like a marathon that cramps your muscles
stone-stiff; sore.
When people ask,
“doesn’t it hurt?”
You say: “yes but water tastes
divine afterwards.”
Like a hike up
the highest African peak—Kilimanjaro;
when people ask,
“what if you fall?”
You say: “anything to touch
Divine mist with bare hands.”
Motion: changing place or position; movement
Like my 16 hour flight from
West Africa to Pennsylvania;
when people asked,
“wasn’t it hard?”
I said: “yes but dreams are Divine air currents
we rise on like eagles.”
Like my years at Eastern;
propelled to grow, to find hints of the Divine
in my friends, professors,
who like books,
had His words inked in their lives.
Motion: changing place or position; movement
Like the earth that spins around the sun,
so the world can have light—
Like the Divine who left heaven
to drench our horizons with gold.
Words in Motion
About the Author
By Kelly Goddard
Doxa Zannou ’18 is a double major in Psychology and English (Concentration in Writing). She grew up in Benin, West Africa, and has always loved writing and poetry. Her interest in spoken word was sparked by watching YouTube videos of a spoken word organization called Passion for Christ Movement. Inspired, she began doing Soundcloud recordings as a way to grow and share.
Doxa’s first live performance took place at an Eastern coffeehouse during her freshman year. Following the performance, she co-founded a spoken word group on campus called Audacity with two friends, Flo Louis ’17 and MJ Smith ’19. The group focuses on helping one another improve as writers, and has also hosted on-campus performances.
When asked why she loves spoken word, Doxa shares, “I really love words. As a writer, I like how through spoken word you can process the things that happen to you and understand them on a deeper level and find meaning. Without spoken word it’s easy to think we’re isolated in our experiences or struggles, but when we hear other people we realize they understand and can relate.”
Doxa reflects with a smile about how a Google search for Christian psychology programs led her across the ocean to Eastern. “I knew this was where I was supposed to be,” she says with certainty. “I came without visiting.” After graduating, she hopes to pursue a master’s and doctorate in counseling with the goal of becoming a writing therapist.
This article was originally featured in the Spring/Summer 2018 Edition of Eastern Magazine. View the full magazine here.
