Published May 1st, 2023
by Tajudeen Muadh Akanbi
(Osogbo, Osun, Nigeria)
Papa told me, "I need a footprint home."
We journeyed our ride home, pushing marshmallows
at his mouth, there he lay, relishing the winds of his Death.
"I need a footprint." Mending the backyard,
I crafted the images of his face
in the brittle glass.
In the mud, I engraved his image and words.
On marble, I imprinted his toes and fingers in
the heap at the yard,
his breath, the last one, in the foetus he hid
in Mama's skin.
His images hanging on the walls of
our hearts,
do we write a canto in the blood
Where his dreams lie in the mud?
Do we write his name with the blood
on the blunts of the knife that stabbed him?
Do we this and that?
He's yet home to drink his last wine
when I think of laying him in peace.
Biography
Tajudeen Muadh Akanbi, Lightening pen X, is a young poet from Nigeria.
He is the winner of Elite's writing contest.
His works are forthcoming in magazines like Agbowo, lolwe, Eboquills, Salamander, and elsewhere.
This poem is included in Poetry World #6, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Africa Poetry Magazine:
Mother's Body
by Chukwuma-Eke Pacella
Africa Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
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- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
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