a playground poem – Lanaire Aderemi
there are children playing in this park
and there is sand for when they land
in their mother’s arms
there is a lonely swing set
that has lost love to broken slides
Level the Playing Field – Onyedikachi Chinedu
we drove out of town to be husbands, naming an ostrich
of filthy talons from the balcony of our shared hotel room.
we honeymooned the playground at dusk
Some fresh flowers for your home, Miss Cicely – Yasmina Nuny Silva
I hope you smell that, and I hope
you got to smell all the flowers while they were
fresh at your door whenever you opened it to
enter, and when you finally opened it to go.
conversation about home – Dalia Elhassan
i never asked to leave, they took me.
feels like i’m every nation’s castaway.
mark of my mother’s prayers.
i sing songs to myself
The Fear You Feed Us Breaks Our Wings – Alain Hirwa Jules
I had a dream
I was a citizen of the sky
until a man died in police custody
and his country denied the international community
on miracles – Ernest Ogunyemi
for a moment, I wonder
who invented grief. then I think grief is not the problem, really,
the problem is that the maker forgot to make a cure
impossible – Ernest Ogunyemi
desire is a delicate thing. & sometimesa dangerous thing. it could heal wounds, but also open fresh eyes in the body. a man once offeredhis palms to the sky to kill thirst, & was buried by the sea. another man, finding food for his belly,walked into a forest to hunt game. crouched atop a tree, […]
God’s Easiest Wrath is Absence – Adedayo Agarau
an owl tells me my name, says the street where I grew
a bean, my first crush turned a coin into a cowry
I breathe into this room, my bed warm enough to bless an egg
portrait titled after my father’s absence – Dalia Elhassan
he was a young man in amreeka for the first time, first of his name to uproot the soil that raised him & 1989 was nyc, meeting winter for the first time, sleeping on an attic floor, & i take down the details furiously
RED – Hiwot Adilow
he says, of course this is my last
drop, my baby, he walks with me
slowly to the door, i don’t want
to let go or say i love you,
when he shows me out
Other Ways of Saying – Nour Kamel
it’s a bit over (the top)
from some tv show meaning
I don’t know which is which merci
thank you from a lady’s mouth
HYSTERIA – Hiwot Adilow
I can’t cock a gun ’cause I’m
a debutant counting coins,
wincing when lil nigger
fingers touch my hand
