Our neighbor’s wife drained the river before us, left the house thirsty and wanting. The bucket returned from the well as a failure. We watched small fires swallow large bushes. On the news, they said there are dark places beyond the sea; deserts of silence, islands of suffocation, rooms bursting with the thirsty laughter of a dead humor. That harmattan, the river took two girls and left their buckets behind.
Fatihah Quadri Eniola is a Nigerian page and performance poet who uses poetry as a tool for advocacy. She is a strong advocate for gender equality, human rights, and community issues. Fatihah is the winner of the inaugural Pawner’s Paper Performance Poetry Prize for Peace and the 2025 Centre for Black and African Culture Poetry Prize, among other accolades. Her works have been published in Torch Literary Arts, The West Trade Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, and more. She has a background in Law from the University of Ibadan.
