Three poems
3 Poems | Emmanuel G. G. Yamba
The lady with the issue of breast cancer for Ma Nancy during the delivery of this poem,the savior didn’t feel the touchof the lady with the issue of breast cancer it has flipped, three years nowsince you jumped out of the land of the living& i still wonder if your nipple pumps waterlike the victoria’s…
3 Poems | Osieka Osinimu Alao
the language of descent I remember when we used to flyand how the sky carried us in its pouchthe wind caressing our wingsthe sun begging to join our flockand gravity yearning to understandthe physics that governed our motion one day, we were in the skiesand all of a sudden, guns appearedthrough the clouds, then a…
3 Poems | Solomon Ayomide
What If? What if the sun rises in the west and set at east?What if the moon shines at day and neglect the night?If the hands speaks and the eye walksWhat if we laugh at the morgue for a lost soul?And weep for the arrival of an innocent soulWhat if war brings brothers together?While peace…
3 Poems | Osho Oláìítán Jeremiah
Spears / Throat & Grief, The Walks of Death on Bodies of Water (for my grandmother, Ojuolape)/Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un/ death keeps plucking the beloved, in miraculous ways many times/ i begin to watch the union of my heart and the wind/marrying my skin into the withers in the lips of a candle/…
3 Poems | Abejide Michael Ayodeji
And there is a God, Death and the Thighs of Young Women If there is no blood, there is no lifeIf its not sweet, it’s no sin.Gather the villagers, tonight we must drink from ancient gourds and speak of sacred things.There is an ultimate climax that rocks the pant of every earthling, this marks the…
3 Poems │ Salami Alimot Temitope
What Is Deeper Than the Hole in My Heart? Death walked into the euphoria of our home / gripped you with its sturdy hands & dragged you / to the shore / of transition / Father, the day you died / that night / rain hammered our rooftop / then, darkness came & spread its…
3 Poems │ Ugochukwu Anadị
Is this a One-Night Stand? It’s evening yet the coldhas frozen my blanket.It’s evening yet and your adamantinemouth has gone to the silence market.It’s evening yet, and I’m yet to get a YES. Is this a one-night stand? Are we just strangers caughtin-between empty bunks and full libidos?Strangers who trusted the powerholders not to shed…
3 Poems │ Haruna Solomon Binkam
In the thicket Mothers hum & prod babiesbitten by tsetse flies. In the thicket every sleep is slippery towards silent stupor & mothers know every quiet eyeclosure is not peace so they hum & prod babieson the crossroad between sleep & death. I’m stretched over my mother’ssore thighs she curses & sniffles becauseI swallowed a…
3 Poems │ Younglan Talyoung
Various Forms of Doubt Rehearsing How to Dance in My Sister’s Head (i)we take off our clothesyour skin turns downthe approach of my fingers.fright cloaks youyour skeletal frame is upholsteredin fear –how can you fuckwhen a tired straybullet has found restinside alonely boythat would have been me –your lover your brother. (ii)my infant sister died…
3 Poems │ Abdulkareem Abdulkareem
Mother— believe me again,I’m not mad Mother asks if this is anothersubtle elegy to mourn my father,& I tell her— this poem is another ironcaught between the anvil and the hammer I tell her, this poem is another fireplacekeeping me warm through the night. I know of boys who subdue to the euphony of grief…