Two Poems – Chiwenite Onyekwelu
Two Poems Chiwenite OnyekweluScreenplay In the neighbourhood block,some eight kids are playing war.Above their heads, a falconhovers, leaving enough blackholes to swallow the sun.On the map, something is burning.I watch them through a spotfrom the blind: the youngest...
Baartman and Me – Linathi Makanda
Baartman and Me Linathi MakandaYou turn to the side and your lower body says“Who are we if not extensions of ancestral tears?” And you want to tell it “No, it is Baartman now that sits at the top part of my buttocks and this time, the show is ours. It is her and I....
Lagos Is a Watershed Dream & Other Poems – Olajide Salawu
Lagos Is a Watershed Dream & Other Poems Olajide SalawuLagos Is a Watershed Dream The vein of this city is tiny.There are no rooms to writeunholy things. All God’swants are biodegradable. When it rainsI have no name for this city but dirt.When it rains sharks come...
Soucriant Robot Killings & Other Poems – Kwasi Shade
Soucriant Robot Killings & Other Poems Kwasi ShadeCocks Who Drag When one wants to lovewearing late-night westernsbedazzled on the Avenuein heels pushed up hindsightwhere I started to thin. Tonight wears a ragged sky, a skirt, sat borrowed lasheslong beams...
The Persistence of Memory & Other Poems – Animashaun Ameen
The Persistence of Memory & Other Poems Animashaun AmeenInferno I am losing myself in all the languages of the worldI say khasara in Arabic, you say loss in English butthe finality of this is still felt on both of our tongues. Again, it is Friday & I am torn...
In This Heart You Burn & Other Poems – Precious Okpechi
In This Heart You Burn & Other Poems Precious Okpechithe poet dreams everything will go backwards.& you, a perplexed observer, will see: the leavesrock the wind, the roots hold the earth,see the sun hover above the white clouds, & the watersno longer...
The Witr Prayer & Other Poems – Salma Abdulatif
The Witr Prayer & Other Poems Salma AbdulatifThe Witr Prayer They are five, an odd number, like the witr prayer. The eldest is as calm as a bikrah in a white shroud. The second is the most talkative, her hair the softness of the drops that fall on the April meads....
Three Poems – Lillian Akampurira Aujo
Three Poems Lillian Akampurira Aujodiscovery we wonder how to un-tetherfrom the wreaths of our pasts; what weaves the sea,the waves together where our tears gatherin dirge bewailing the heft of loss& sinking inun-belonging wishing to unlockthe noose of...
From a Survivor in a Garden of Bones & Other Poems – Martins Deep
From a Survivor in a Garden of Bones & Other Poems Martins DeepFrom a Survivor in a Garden of Bones The shots missed my bodyto deafen the walls their ears bleeding midnight monologuestill i stood knee-deep in it you moved closer, wading throughto pull the trigger...
At Elmina Castle, I Bleed & Other Poems – Sarpong Osei Asamoah
At Elmina Castle, I Bleed & Other Poems Sarpong Osei AsamoahAt Elmina Castle, I Bleed I climb like sea saltUp bedrock bigger than the moon, I swear.My feet clomping upon the sacred grey.I want them to hear my coming, my dead.I lift my head and concrete is not...
There Is Fire in His Woods – Omodero David Oghenekaro
There Is Fire in His Woods Omodero David OghenekaroWho has believed our message and to whom has the arm of Godbeen revealed?– Isaiah 53:1 Speaking of roads that gasify intoLimbless staggering dreams midway down themMemory constrains me to the...
What Once, We Something Like Had, Or Thought We Were – henry 7. reneau, jr.
What Once, We Something Like Had, Or Thought We Were henry 7. reneau, jr.1. I watch the stars hide behind the Son of man– unkind like all the beautiful sins of the world. The sin-phonies of corruptionlike desire aroused to swarms of mosquitoes or locusts. The virtues...