Poem by Yahuza Usman

My Feverish Pen

was wallowing in its misery,
small enough to subdue its melancholy,
bright enough to throw into relief
the dark plastic that cluttered it.

i heard that much rage was crawling
together with its flooded ink
trying to fetch fresh ink and wet its tip
that yearns to bleed words of relief.

my pen was trembling and about to vomit blue ink;
my pen’s ink would turn to ice
catching a deep glimpse of the scorching sun,
and my pen’s throat would swallow all the yearnings;
despair and outrage are feelings that accompany
the breath-stopping agony of rejection.

if i could be certain that my pain would not die
& the misery would not last till eternity,
soon, i’d be cuddling my pen with affection
& give birth to new soul-calming lines.

About the Poet

Yahuza Usman, a certified Wikimedian, is a Nigerian poet, short-story writer, book reviewer, voracious reader, essayist, and a member of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation from Al-Mishkat Academy Jalingo, Taraba State. He has been a coauthor in about 7 International anthologies. He has his works published by Al-Mir’aatuh Magazine, World Voices Magazine, Itell Stories, Everything Beautiful, and elsewhere. He’s the prose 2nd runner-up of WVM Online Contest, May edition. He was shortlisted
among the 2022 Iconic Writers of India by Sparkling Cornexpress Media, India. He emerged 2^nd in Taraba Youth for Peace Project Essay Competition organized by Dar Al Andalus Centre in October 2022. He won the first prize for on-the-spot non-fiction writing at the 2023 Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu School Festival (HIASFEST 2023) in Minna, Niger State. Yahuza is a Hafiz, a typist, a graphic designer, and a networker who bears “Crawling Writer” as his poetic name.