The moonlight makes my skin burn. My mother knows this and so does the babalawo scooping blood from a rusty metal bucket and gently pouring it over my head. The blood sizzles as it hits my skin. It is no match for the fire the moonlight dumps on my skin. I am red. I am [...]
My Pen bleeds ink that heals abyssal hearts
'The Yoruba believe in the doctrine of metempsychosis or transmigration of souls; hence they affirm that after some time, deceased parents are born again into the family of the surviving children. It is from this notion that some children are named "Babatunde," i.e., the father comes again…' —The History of the Yorubas by Johnson, Samuel [...]
The sun releases her scorching smiles, And her thundering rays smear abruptly Echoing into the eardrum of the world Reaching from a far fearful forest Unknown to the magic of all fortune seekers. The sound of silent screamers spike Into the deafened ears of the jungle And boom; its planted bomb explodes Piercing in the [...]
Ikem held his breath alongside his brothers in arms. The men he had met, hated, fought against and now stood together to stop tyranny. He felt a certain kinship that couldn’t be explained or better yet, felt by none other than those who did what they did. The sound of the enemy engines and loud [...]
A number of souls are being entertained by your air gulps, frightened shivers, stuttering tunes and hopeful chords. Your brain convinces your throat to purge out troubled words of the last song you heard in church. A bald man with brows that seem to have been eaten by the dead and an ugly scar he [...]
The first time I saw her was on a cold morning. The housemistress knocked on the room door and we all rose from our beds. When I stepped forward to open the door, she stood at her imposing height, looking at me with a keen observation, causing me to feel so seen I drew my [...]
I eat my intestines, But your pots are flooded with food and fishes. I walk naked, But your seats are fashioned with purple linen. I lie in sty, in cold nights, While your pigs sleep in castles. You call me brother, but you wish that The border between us were broader. You turn your eyes away from me Whenever I kneel in [...]
In my body, depression feigns piety as a muse And drags my fingers through the lines of manuscripts Every breath is an incision on my corpse With a six-inch skewer. I do not fear death, but each time night crawls towards me I begin to wonder how many times I will repeat death before sunrise. [...]
Walk with me and I'll show you a desert, A ghost of a green land, Where the rivers have turned into mirages. I'll show you a ship sinking deep down the sea, On whose deck, justice had once held hands with humans as lovers do. I'll show you a community where the rain falls on [...]
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