I Have Learnt
“to make every verb sting like a bee ” | by Niyi Osundare
Nigeria
Sell-By Date
better I let him now while I still engage the persistent haranguing of marketplace bargaining than to weep for it when the brawl has reclined to a crawl and no one stoops to bargain at my market stall.
Forty Full Seasons Gone Like Yesterday
by Remi Raji: When the child in you trips / it grips the path
Cremation
Smoke and ash augur loss the night My mother feeds her diary into flame, Sheet by sheet, line by cursive line, And then a wind weaves through, just enough To blow a flame back at her, searing her skin. She hesitates a moment, penitent, then pulls back. Did she let it hurt for one second …
Remi Raji
Poetry International 7/8
“Forty Full Seasons Gone Like Yesterday”
Lola Shoneyin
Poetry International 7/8
“Sell-By Date”
Niyi Osundare
Poetry International 7/8
“I Have Learnt”
Chris Abani
Poetry International 22/23
“Cremation”