by Alkasim Abdulkadir 1. Stoning from Glass Houses! The took away our lands And built glass houses They took away the stones So we won’t throw stones At their glass houses. Yet they throw stones at us! They forget that those who sleep and snore In glass houses don’t throw stones! Verily soon we shall smuggle stones from abroad Dredge stones [...]

by Benson Eluma   For Ify Omalicha Who now to carry on Your dance of beatitude, Lead the chorus In the return movement?   Your strings have suddenly come Undone centre stage. The actors Cannot avoid the strewn beads.   Giving a matinée, death Offered us free seats, Issued you a libretto You were not eager for.   You did [...]

1. Sister Mustard died someplace Mount Ebola, I think, in Africa. They planted a mine on the headstone For a curious little boy to play with.   Kaboom! and his lost limbs won Weeklong notice on international news. Sister Mustard turned And smiled in her death…   2. The ants laboured hard in the sun On the trail of the [...]

The Bomber Drowned THE BOMBER TOO DROWNED, in his ripple Among the heads, at the belt’s attunement to rage, at the last dead chant– HEAD TO THE SCHEDULED FEAST ON virgin demons; breaths– doused in limbo, hurried on shrapnel; incenses of vengeance against the webs…   HE TOOK THE AIR, yes he did, he took some damn lucky ears he took too, his [...]

by Benson Eluma Claire, now they make the mannequins with long legs They give them huge buttocks and big breasts But they leave their lips thin and their noses aquiline They dress them up in damask and head-ties They do not forget the fans that go with social events But they leave them without panties and without bras Claire, you [...]

SUFFERING AND SMILING We hold these truths to be self-evident: That where there is a child There must be a cane. That before you make ends meet There will be some pain. That Lekki is the part of Lagos Closest to heaven. That after such a brutal week We deserve a good wedding. That Fashola does the work, Tinubu dey [...]

I’m working on a collection of poems investigating hate, fear, and loathing: Under the banner of peace and brotherhood, my body to be scattered in bits in the noisy, sudden, non-peaceful tearing of flesh. My body a weapon against cousinhood. I have many cousins – one that smokes by the Ganges and really hates blood. one that used to be [...]