Aftermath of a strange disease’s takeaway
Two miles before a colored island,The detritus of grief finds a way to heal.
Something a rustle cannot contain
And still own its halo essence.
Before my father died of a strange disease,
A school of fishes came into sunrise to play
As my mother holds the tip of her tongue in place
For the perfect dua, brother grows as dust, settles as dirt.
He becomes stubborn before the cleansing rites,
The only thing with life was the air caressing our chest
From the Wild West to December, nothing makes sense afterwards.
AND IN HOW TO
I write a poem for godStrokes for all cattle killed
Verses the herd lost
A bad seed drowned in water
I wrote, a poem, for god,
Your face fades, nothing of joy
Their face erases, nothing of guilt
My face lights, nothing of lost,
A god spelling our destiny backwards.
Abdulrazaq salihu, X-gene, TPC I is a Nigerian award winning poet. He has his works published/forthcoming in brittle paper, masks lit mag, Kalahari review, pine cone review, better than star bucks, Jupiter review , rogue and elsewhere. He won the masks lit mag poetry award, BPKW poetry contest, Nigerian prize for teen authors, splendors of Dawn poetry contest and more. He is a member of the hilltop creative arts foundation and a poetry intern at Eboquills. He twits @Arazaqsalihu and passionately loves flowers.
Banner Art: Blue Scale, a visual poem by Robert Frede Kenter. Tweets: @frede_kenter, I.G. r.f.k.vispocityshuffle
IceFloe Press 