Hussani Abdulrahim is the winner of the July 2019 edition of the monthly Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC) for young writers. The edition was themed ‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’.
Hussani, a Pure Chemistry undergraduate student at Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria, won the contest with an original romantic piece entitled I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO LOVE YOU MORE. The poem beat WHAT IS LEFT OF WHAT IS RIGHT by Ogedengbe Tolulope Impact and LIARS IN THEIR LAIRS by Oladimeji Adam Adedayo to 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Hussani has received several recognitions for his writings, including WRR Green Author Prize 2016 (joint-winner), 2018 Africa Book Club short story contest (winner), for Nigerian Students Poetry Prize 2019 (shortlisted), Ken Egas Poetry Prize 2018 (shortlisted), Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize 2018 (shortlisted), Wordiators Championship 2018 first runner-up, 2018 ANA Kano/Peace Panel Poetry Prize (winner). His works have appeared in journals and anthologies and he writes with the belief that words have the power to heal the world of its numerous ills.
Below is the winning poem:
I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO LOVE YOU MORE by HUSSANI ABDULRAHIM
Because whenever I try to Love you more,
I realize how I've reached
the last words in my manual of wits.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that I already love you in a way
that is beyond existence.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that I am already trying
so hard to love you more than I love you.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that your name has crowded the spaces
in my heart and there's no room to add a novel term
in the dictionary of my love for you.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that it is the very thing
I have been doing from the beginning,
and to love you more is to return to the beginning.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that I love you more
than the intimacy between two pines leaning into each other,
and the romance between moon and stars,
and the chemistry between the ocean reflecting the sky.
Because whenever I try to love you more,
I realize that the more I try,
the more I realize that I can't love you more,
because I already love you more than I can ever love you