I wear a mask with dimples that twinkle
and remain, as they say, an optimistic human
‘WHAT TO SAY TO THE BOY THAT ASKS FOR THE REMNANTS OF RAIN’ & ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ (two poems by Salim Yakubu Akko)
and the remnants
of the orphaned rain is lying here
between our ribs, sieving the dust
trying to blur the eye’s of this
night would born.
‘WATER IS ASLEEP’, ‘THE CLOUDS ARE ABSENT’, & ‘PAYBACK’ (three poems by Mai William Bemsii Junior)
Fowls have become dumb
Dogs are now bony
Dust is tick and fleshy
THERE IS PEACE IN THIS LAND | a poem by Imam Sarafadeen
A rich man is helping a poor man
A convict is dancing with a child,
People put aside their differences
& proclaim a triumphant hope
HOW I BAKE MY DAILY BREAD (a poem by Joseph Olamide Babalola )
I launch my day mixing desires in the same
bowl with uncertainties, kneading them soft
on the intricate board of complexities
‘BALL OF SUET’, ‘ FROM COPENHAGEN ’, ‘I AM GERINELDO’ & ‘POETESS IN VINEGAR PRICKS’ (four poems by Daniel de Culla)
Get him into the Seminary
And become a pedophile priest
To go through those mountains of God
Disgracing widows and married
UNNAMED | a poem by Roy Duffield
my matchbox world gives my family light from my moon
for we are soluble in this water of being
CROSSWORD, OR ODE TO A MAN’S IDENTITY | a poem by Sunday T. Saheed
the stars crawled what remains of
their twinkles to the cranium of this
poem, where a hand pokes a finger
THE OFFING| a poem by Prosper Ifeanyi
When a black
boy does it—it’s someone did it. When ‘nother does,
it’s he did it.
i’ve heard that a native name is a long string | a poem by Glorious Kate Akpegah
sometimes it lies quietly, brooding over the episode of life that hatched you.