for every crossroad that diverges comes a canon loaded with questions of identity / of tagging myself to a name. this is in the belief that, whatever carries blood around must be named. the sun dragged its rays to the feet of this poem, where a hand pokes a finger to my turban, & identifies me — you're a fucking muslim terrorist! a moon disassembles at the mouth of this poem, where a hand pokes a finger to my skin, & identifies me — you're a negro, shit! the stars crawled what remains of their twinkles to the cranium of this poem, where a hand pokes a finger to my chest, & says: you do breathe a mother ferries her love like paper- boat to light this poem. a hand pokes a finger to my vein. identified me, as human, as dangerous, as queer, as everything a man is named after
Sunday T. Saheed is a poet, reviewer, and smudge artist. He studies English Language at Lagos State University. Saheed is the author of the poetry collection “Rewrite The Stars”, listed by Konya Shamsrumi among the top ten books by Nigerian teen authors in 2021. He is also the recipient of the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2021, and a finalist for the 2018 Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in magazines/journals including Rough Cut Press, Brittle Paper, The Temz Review, Salamander Ink, Arts Lounge, The Lumiere Review, Comstock Review, Afrocritik, SprinNG, Rigorous magazine, Ice Floe Press, Synchronized Chaos Magazine, My Woven Poetry, Aster Lit, Pop The Culture Pill, Kissing Dynamite, Gyroscope Review, Giallo Lit, Kalahari Review. He is a member of the Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation, an assistant editor for The Nigeria Review (TNR), and a poetry editor for the Teen Lit Journal. When Saheed isn’t writing, he can be found reading, watching movies, or enjoying comedy skits. He is @poetsundaysaheed on Instagram.
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