by Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo

Like a balcony
I see that I wish to see.

The birds departing the snapping twig.
The dog searching for what is not lost in the sky.
The immigrant woman who wears fear like a robe,
Standing all day by the window of her kitchen
Counting her griefs, cooking what remains of her aches.

Like I balcony
I see that I wish to see.

The warlord on a rocking chair.
A veteran waiting for an angel,
Asking the doctor what remains of his life.
The orphan boy looking for mercy in his uncle’s dry sockets,
The one that will use him and drop him like a dead daffodil.

Like a balcony
I harbor scenes beyond me,
Scenes I couldn’t help.

The prey, girls like full moon, like morning tulips,
Falling in the mouths of their predators.
The refugee camps’ returnees searching for where to start again.

Like a balcony
We see and pretend not to see.

Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo is a Nigerian, a student of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His first love is making art and he loves to pen down the whisperings of his heart. He believes these will take him to places one day. He made the shortlist of the July 2019 edition of BBPC Contest all over Nigeria. His works have been published in The Night Heron Barks, Poesis Journal, and 433.