I sought the feeling of pain,
So I punctured my ears and nose
And wore golden stars on them
I had dark lines, shapes drawn on my crooks ‘n’ sleeves---
Tiny stars running down my crooks
Dandelions on my sleeves;
That every time sadness knocks
I’d wish on the dandelions that she might vanish
And if she should persist
I’d bore my skin the more
For I love the feeling---
Exploring pain in its various genres;
Like I do the comets and stars
Which I now know in and out
Yeah, I adore the experience, having diverse flavours of pain
Glowing amidst aches running down my spine
Growing to reveal queenly beauty;
Life will sure be proud of me
For her lessons I have well embraced:
Pain is a headmistress to mortals,
Beauty is birthed right amongst thorns
Mama will be glad to see her girl
Shining through punctures hurts and scars.
In the first days after Funmi ended things, you simply refused to believe that it was nothing more than another fight...
Read moreYour waist beads glimmer under the faint light illuminating your room from the bulb on your ceiling. You like...
Read moreIt's been almost a decade since your dad died, but you remember it as if it were yesterday. He was wearing his navy...
Read moreDeath has its underbelly, the subtle finality, gone to be no more. Die and end our miseries. I mentally wave off the
Read moreThe men who put numbers to the crates bite their beer-soaked lips and shake their drunk, little heads at...
Read moreI flip through the pages of my mind nondisruptively — a boy in a manger, star in the sky, preacher on the...
Read moreA woman's wedding day is her happiest day, right? Well, it's not like that for Bolu. Her wedding day was...
Read moreThree times he had tried–picked up the pen, put it down, almost written a word. The other students...
Read moreIt’s like clockwork: our love. You wake up each day and sit at your desk. I wake up too and watch you do your thing...
Read moreYou have come to associate full moons with bad luck. It was on a night with a full moon that you pushed out your child, still...
Read moreMy father's father made love to the earth. He worshipped it, bent towards its rising sunafter rising run and fed it sweat that...
Read moreI don't talk to strangers. What I mean is, I don't have unnecessary conversations with service people. If I have an appointment with a...
Read more