A Poem by Sa’ada Isa Yahaya

Exculpated Sky, a visual poem by Robert Frede Kenter grainy urban tenements blurred and dreamlike in shades of brown, red, orange.

Of a country

After Olumide Manuel’s “of silence”

The love of a country &
                                       the weight of a dead country &
the beauty in a burning country &
                                                       the night swallows a country &
the raging bodies in a country &
                                                      hell in the name of a country &
a country morphs into a cemetery &
                                                              a country becomes memory &
the redness of a country &
                                         the shattering of a country &
a country eats up her children &
                                                         a country falls &
a country fails &
                            a country rises again.

Sa’ada Isa Yahaya (she/her) a Nigerian teen writer and author who regards herself as God’s own piece of art, a student of Jewel Model School, Kubwa-Abuja and a member of Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abuja, is a three time winner of the on-the-spot poetry prize at HIASFEST and the first runner up in the AIPFEST SLAM 2024. Her works have received nominations for the Creators of Justice Literary Award (Youth Category), AS ABUGI National Short Story Prize, National Copyright Commission award for young creatives. She is also a finalist for the Bkpw contest, Wakaso poetry prize and the Dawn poetry project. Her works appear in Blue Marble Review, Libretto Magazine, Còn-Scìò, Under the Madness Magazine, Eboquills, Southern Arizona Press and elsewhere. She can be found on instagram @saadaisayahaya

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