By Tobun Pelumi
TW: Military violence and war themes
think of this poem as a boy hijacked
by the pollution looming the air
– gathering his breath into a waste bin,
as a body mutilated by the pain hosting
a space at the crevice of the heart, echoing
angst through pathways of fenestrated vessels.
think of this boy as a sanctuary
of nothingness punctuated by grief
oozing red on tv screens:
of the ungodly massacre of heaven's
sheep at a cathedral by terrorists
during mass, at Owo, Nigeria,
of the Russian-Ukraine war
making the world a cauldron of red
with confetti of bullets showering the sky.
then think of all these as a grieving boy
whose joy has been measured by doom,
hoping to bloom into a chrysanthemum of felicity.
About the author:
Tobun Pelumi, pen-named Voice of an elect, is 3/4 of Next Generational Poets. He's a phone photographer, an award winning poet & emerging writer from Lagos, Nigeria. His works are/forthcoming in Arts Lounge, Nymphs Magazine, BANSI Demi-gods Anthology, and elsewhere. He was a joint winner of PIN June 2021 poetry challenge, he was a shortlist in BKPW contest of December 2021 edition, he bagged third place in Shamokwale Poetry Contest, he also made top 20 in BPPC April/May 2022. He’s on Twitter and Instagram @pelumitobun.
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