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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.

Biography

Picture
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
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ISSN 2639-426X
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    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions