Your Cry Was Strangled By Distance
(For Jos)

Your cry was strangled by distance,
Made dumb by lies and dissembling
Yet, I heard your scream
I felt it pierce through me
I saw my guts spill out
I played Pilate with my own blood
This is no time for casting stones
Now is time for sober tones
This no time for laying blame
This is time for the soothing balm
When tongues cleave to rooftops
Swords exit their sheaths
And filled with bloodlust
They sow sorrows!
I heard your mangled cry
And wept too, when I saw
Your children: bowels ripped open
Throats bared in grim smiles
Your cry was strangled by distance
Muted by deaths across the seas
Yet when I heard, I trembled
Like a tethered goat before a butcher
For every life lost, diminishes me
 
 
 You Left Your Traces
(For Aikay)

You left your traces
On my mind, my lips, my skin…
You left the quiet storm
To rage in my soul
And the whiff of you
To tease me eternally
You left your traces
Like the last strains
Of a sweet song…
In the wake of your leaving
 
 
 
I Am Afflicted By Desperate Thoughts
(For alex)

In love and beloved
Conscience twines me like a vicious tendril
Why does this flame flare up between us?
Casting me in silhouette
A shadow, cocooned in a penumbra of doubts
 
I am afflicted by desperate thoughts,
Forbidden longings that excite
Questions like red dust
In a pilgrim's wake
Shall I let this flicker
Become a consuming fire?
Shall I let myself become
Tinder, quick to burn
Like a thief bathed in petrol?
Lend me an anchor;
Root me. Offer me a cleft;
Hide me. Pull me in
And like a mother to a child
Cast away my doubts
With a gentle kiss
Guide my wayward vessel
To your shores
 
 
Life Is A 4cking Joke
(For Lola Shoneyin)

Life is a 4cking joke
So we've got to laugh
To exile the tears
This piece is for Lola
Who knows how to bare
Her teeth in sweet laughter
I hear the echoes now and again
Like waves crashing to shore
I've met her once
Or twice or thrice …
But I find her now and again
In those pages where we scheme
To make ourselves immortal
She writes with her left
About hard things that crack the teeth
Hard things that stir the loins
I like her legs and bum and…
Now, my girl might take offence
I love my girl
From the yansh of my heart
But my love is large like the sea
Large enough for two or more
Will we tango and share a kiss?
Lola and I , silly.
I think not
But it's fun to hope
Tonight, I'm tipsy
Tomorrow, I'll be sober
And I'll read Lola again
And wonder why I wrote this