I am learning how to scribble poems about

Living, about bodies loving their homes, about

Miracles. I want to pluck hibiscuses without

Thorn-bites on the brittle of my skin. Without 

Epiphytes telling me that I’m a home for 

Fettered things. I want to beautify a language

& unwear the heaviness of my chest, until 

There are no ululations, no burns & no magma 

Spilling on the faces of boys.

I’ve been living but still learning the rhythm of my 

Respiration & how to hold prayers between the 

Crevices of my lungs. Some nights are hope 

Pouring into poems. This portraiture is how I 

Skid from the claws of my soliloquy and the

Chrysanthemum of my memories before saying

Amen to the prayers I mounted on the relics of my 

Faith. I’m learning about flights. Say I’m a bird 

Receding into a labyrinth of winglessness—

Levitating  on a precipice & about to c

                                                                 r 

                                                                    a 

                                                                       s 

                                                                          h into 

                                                               a field of flowers 

                                                               in nirvana.

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Muhammed Sanni Olowonjoyin, TPC III, studies Biochemistry at the University of Ilorin. His poems have been published or forthcoming in Salamander Ink Magazine, Stripes, African Writer Magazine, Words And Whispers, Acropolis Journal, Kreative Diadem, Fiery Scribe Review, Ngiga Review, Livina Press, Arts Lounge, and elsewhere. He reads poetry and translations for The Dodge Magazine. When he's not tracing biochemical pathways, reading, or writing, he's searching for peace. He tweets @APerSe_