Three Poems – Bisola Bada. Art – Oladosu Michael Emerald

the first man to love me

you’re created for love
it is only a man that’ll
love you completely

so when he came to me
opened the door &
pressed his love against
my fragile existence
my body was a reception

the wind controls the kite
& not otherwise, right?

my poems may have
detonated dynamites
in the nest of your chest
but trust me,

I am not my poems
my poems are me

I am just a messenger
of the gospel of
my stepdad —
the first man to love me

I forgive myself

in pleasing patriarchy
I am a sinner

but I forgive myself
because it has started

I mean I am plucking out
the incisors of supremacy
munching on my nipples

I used to tear in hiding
drown in my own shadow
but not anymore

to these rude dicks
wanting to till a loam
that’s never theirs

to these mosquitoes
flighting towards me
for a plundering

I am no longer
that girl christened after
a broken boat on water

I am fiery in my breath
& there shall be
a carnival of burning

it is my wish that
a lord of misogyny
crushes the clarity
of this poem

only in that way
can I happen to you

bold

these lines on my thighs
stretch themselves
in the language of water
unbroken
the river is without shame
so am I with my skin
soft & striking
a flaw, too, is beautiful
for no sky is without
black spots
yet it doesn’t stop
to birth sun & moon & stars

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Bisola Bada is a Business Psychologist and writer from Nigeria. She writes about the intersection of life, beauty, love and everything in between; she writes especially for the girl child. When she is not reading or writing, she is out enjoying the beauty of youth with her girlfriends. She currently writes from Newcastle, United Kingdom. Twitter: @mobisolao_ 

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Artworks by: Oladosu Michael Emerald.

Oladosu Michael Emerald(he/him): is an art editor at Surging Tide magazine, a poet, a writer, a digital/musical/visual artist, and a political scientist. His works have been published or forthcoming in many magazines and won numerous awards in writing and art; few to mention: Better Than Starbucks, Undivided magazine, Feral, Afrocritik, Necro magazine, spill word web, Paper lantern lit, the maul magazine, Zoetic, penumbric, native skin, Nymph, Naija Reader’s Buffet, Spring word web, Third Estate Art magazine, thehearth magazine, kalonipa, and elsewhere. Say hi to him on Twitter @garricologist and Instagram @emerald_arts1.