Olayioye Paul Bamidele
A rendition to Abiku, when harmattan scarified our skins
there's a cry inside: first joy; then death
morphing the green leaf to yellow & twirl. outside
there's breeze. outside, there's wheeze
of pain & ferric chloride agony.
dear Abiku, i see your star(dom)
how it trails with the mockingbirds to scorn
our last hope. how the owls
carrying your voice, say: arise, there's no antidote
to the plague of grief.
____________________
i wake up this morning & your face stride
past like a firefly in my eyes.
i know i have anew wedge to lift - pain,
something uneasy to bypass.
outside, the family sits again to decide
how the placenta will not regrow in the
woman's womb, to birth Abiku again.
& i know this method is mouth: once
the words windfall, they will dried like
spittle.
outside, the breeze is blowing again.
outside, the walls & skins are being
scarified from the breath of Abiku.
*Abiku: this means stillborn in the western Yoruba of Nigeria, Africa.
morphing the green leaf to yellow & twirl. outside
there's breeze. outside, there's wheeze
of pain & ferric chloride agony.
dear Abiku, i see your star(dom)
how it trails with the mockingbirds to scorn
our last hope. how the owls
carrying your voice, say: arise, there's no antidote
to the plague of grief.
____________________
i wake up this morning & your face stride
past like a firefly in my eyes.
i know i have anew wedge to lift - pain,
something uneasy to bypass.
outside, the family sits again to decide
how the placenta will not regrow in the
woman's womb, to birth Abiku again.
& i know this method is mouth: once
the words windfall, they will dried like
spittle.
outside, the breeze is blowing again.
outside, the walls & skins are being
scarified from the breath of Abiku.
*Abiku: this means stillborn in the western Yoruba of Nigeria, Africa.
Biography
|
Olayioye Paul Bamidele, also called Shakespeare, is a writer and a student of mass communication. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Spillwords, Lunaris, Artlounge, Afreecan, Ninshar Art, Ice Floe, Kreative Diadem, Kissing Dynamite, Synchronized Chaos Mag, Threposs, and elsewhere. You can find him on Facebook @paulolayioye, Instagram @olayioyepaulbamidele, Twitter @olayioye_Paul, and WhatsApp @ 08162573107
|
