Solomon Ọládipúpọ̀ ~ Two poems

Reawakening

chaos in town. a viral siege

our words are wings fly­ing across cities
you, there; me, here. us — two
worlds a/part

above, the sky thickens
like the locust swarms of March
sweep­ing through Nairobi

down here, we await it daily -
as the fig­ures roll out like nightmares

we wait for it, even
me, you, us, everybody
we wait for it:

a sec­ond com­ing. our reawakening

~

When Death Arrives In A Lover’s Body

We do not know it but it hangs over us.
shape like of things unknown

You six-feet deep into my eyes, searching
for light, for a body to call home -

But a man’s body, some­times, is no heaven -
even for a dying lover hun­gry for a last-minute miracle

They say our ances­tors had thick­er skins and
they weaved their names into tales by moonlight
for us to wear like gar­ments to be passed down
to our chil­dren and our children’s children

But you find none, and I find none neither.

You touch my face, and watch
as I break into six lay­ers of fears beneath my skin

We kiss and your breaths linger in me.
I hold on much longer to them:

A flower for your departing

~

Solomon Ọládipúpọ̀ is a young jour­nal­ist and assis­tant edi­tor based in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a grad­u­ate of the University of Lagos where he stud­ied mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion. His writ­ing explores the inter­con­nec­tion of the per­son­al and the col­lec­tive, the self and the ‘us’ — a reflec­tion of his jour­nal­ism back­ground. Some of his works have appeared in the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC) antholo­gies and oth­ers have been select­ed as top entrants for the Poets in Nigeria (PIN) 10-Day Poetry Challenge. When not writ­ing or report­ing news, Ọládipúpọ̀ lis­tens to Nigerian folk music or con­tem­po­rary high­life — depend­ing on the mood. You can find him on Twitter: @solo_oladipupo.