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Haunting

Haunting

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By Abdulkareem Abdulkareem (Pānini)

In her dreams,
she sees this baby as a silhouette
walking on
Sahara & she stretches her hand to the mirror
calling
this baby to come back as a living thing.

A mother’s grief birthed from a lifeless child
lying ion her arms.
This grief that wraps a thorn around a mother’s
throat
& draws the Nile into her lachrymal sacs.

She is drawn into the navel of grief with loss
embalmed in her eyebrows.
& daily, she returns to the tiny grave singing
a lullaby
& the leaves sprouted on this grave dances.
& some nights, she tells a bed time story to this
baby through a broken glass.

 

See Also
Two Poems - Olaseni Kehinde Precious - Afrocritik

 

Abdulkareem Abdulkareem (Pānini) (he/him), Frontier III, is a Nigerian writer, he studies Linguistics at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. His poem was shortlisted for the top 20 poems of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021 & the top entries of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (August/September) 2021. His works appear/forthcoming on Poetrycolumn NND, The Shallow Tales Review, Brittle Paper, Ice Floe, Rigorous, Second Chance lit, Olney magazine, Window Facing Window Review, Celestite Poetry, Sledgehammer lit, Salamander ink, Afro literary magazine, Lunaris Review, Kissing Dynamite & elsewhere. He is a member of The Frontiers Collective. He tweets @panini500bc. Instagram panini_500bc. 

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