The first time my eyes saw a girl’s nakedness
was at sixteen, when my body became an altar
for a forceful ritual of iniquity by a girl
My Name Is Grief | a poem by Mohammed Taoheed
i know this eventual
oneness is my grief & i cup my hands around it.
neck-deep – the mire yet yielding and yielding around me.
TODAY IS NOT THE DAY WE DIE ‘ / ‘ALONE IN THE CROWD’ / ‘THE EXECUTIONER ‘ / ‘CAN I TAKE A DIP? ‘ | four poems by Olumide Holloway (King Olulu)
One day I will write a poem about the tears,
That stain my face throughout the years.
‘I’M ON A HIATUS FOR PSALMS‘ / ‘FURLONG‘ / ‘ON DAYS WHEN THE AIR IS GRIEF‘ / ‘TO KISS ATAVISM‘ / ‘EXILE’ | five poems by Olayioye Paul Bamidele
here, the only ode is a receding
of insult. instead of pillows, my guardian
uses a slab, nets it on my nape & calls it
discipline. yet, that same night, cracks open—
like an egg—a psalm with my name.
GRACE (a poem by Blessing Omeiza Ojo)
I asked a boy, an orphan, bathing the street with waters
from his body, what led his pedigree to rest.
He said it was a bullet from a drunk policeman’s riffle.
the village chief’s wife & the boy who told tales to a blue bird (a poem by Kukogho Iruesiri Samson)
Today, the chief’s wife visited the village square
her once-rectangular parts now are square!
but we dare not boo or harry her…
OSOFISAN | a poem by Overcomer Ibiteye
my matchbox world gives my family light from my moon
for we are soluble in this water of being
VERSES FOR SAGES | a poem by Peter Itanka
D is for D.O. Fagunwa, the bullroarer who rode in his pen horse for an Expedition To The Mountain Of Thought. D is also for Dele, the town crier whose large bell rings out: Do Not Die in Their War.
PACESETTER | a poem by Adedire Adekunle Peter
If You Must Set Forth At Dawn
Rise before the sun will smirk at your courage
Of a poet that birthed this madness
CHIMAMANDA OF THE EAST | a poem by John Kote
You are not a single story
Patience and pain have courted you to the gravestones of dearly beloved
Grief is not brief, take notes