we who tiptoe around the light
taking shadows for duvet
artful dodgers
wary of being razed
A Night Full of Imaginations | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Sa’ada Isa Yahaya
I want to tell him that I have no prayers left to render,
that my fingers are strangers to the Tasbeeh.
But I roll my tongue towards forgiveness before I sin again.
Vagabond | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Adesiyan Oluwapelumi
The road ahead is a forbidden way
leading to a discotheque for lost boys.
You are trying to say home, but I mistake
it for run, & so I leave.
In This Poem, I Am Biafra | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Fortune Simeon
This body is Biafra. I want to be Ojukwu. I want to secede this flesh. Let me break out.
Flotsam: My Cesspit of Ancestral Heirloom | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Nnadi Samuel
I go into every accident—headfirst.
the cesspit claimed by frogs is an ancestral heirloom.
HoMe | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Káyọ̀dé Ayobami
You wake up, your mouth is too heavy
To say the morning prayer. Your knees
Are too weak to kiss the cold floor.
THIS LOVE | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ poem by Salami Alimot Temitope
What is this tingling sensation in my stomach? Your name,
hibiscus in my mouth. Your voice, a star in the night
of my body. This love scintillates the orchid of my core.
‘CHRONICLE OF FORCED STEPS’ & ‘REFINED BRAIN DRAIN’ | two poems by Paschal Ezeokafor
why will a boy call home
the mouth of a snake
and tilt to a direction
that water leads to?
‘ONE DAY I WILL WRITE A POEM ABOUT MY DEPRESSION’ / ‘LOST’ / ‘ALONE’ / ‘THE POSSIBLE SAD STORY OF HOW YOU NEVER PURSUED YOUR DREAMS’ / ‘EMPTY EYES’ | five poems by Temi Tayo
One day I will write a poem about the tears,
That stain my face throughout the years.
‘THIS IS NOT A CURSE’ / ‘LIMBS’ / ‘ABBA’ / ‘THE STRUGGLE OF THE PATIENT’ / ‘LAUGHTER’ | five poems by Afra Adil Ahmad
But once your laughter fades,
I’m reminded of everything that is broken in this world,
everything broken about my heart.