Poems by: Ojo Emmanuel Olumide

As we
recline              trudge
through dawn  through dusk   through time
we conjure       we calibrate     we cartograph     we carve
to probe           to unmask        to propitiate     to justify          to unleash
the despair       the despair       the despair       the despair
we invoke        we shrink         we skin
into bodies      as souvenirs
ferried to places

We wander about because it is night.
That’s a way to bear witness to the moon
And if she does not watch, shall the day appear?
This subsumes night
Tarried on unfilled belly.
Worms have no hands to cheer or
Feet to twerk around the dance fall, the body
Loitered by the moon, lingered by famishment
Yet, the moon would not rest our wandering or
The rumbling stomach or the fingers pointing
At its face to name the stars after themselves
Because tonight, this night, the story is no different.

About the Poet

Ojo Olumide Emmanuel is a Nigerian Poet and Book Editor. He is the author of the Poetry Chapbook “Supplication For Years in Sands” (Polarsphere Books, 2021). He is the winner of the WeNaija Literary Contest (Non-Fiction, 2023).

His works have appeared and are forthcoming at Ake Review, Feral, Quills, Poemify, Melbourne-Culture, TNR, and elsewhere. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Nigerian Review (TNR).
He is a Senior Mentor at the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation and he is a fellow of the SprinNG Writers Fellowship.