Poems by Mubarak Said

What Named Butterflies

i start this poem with what I believe
could quietus the grieving dust, since it is an abomination to call me a poet
when my name couldn’t be written with a pen

& a pillar of blasphemy is learning how to
weave a shroud where planting
a yam is another form of a ritual

inside my language lays a room
where my childhood dialect was born
& this country is a bunch of wood
waiting to be set ablaze

a dream too is a packet of lies
receiving the scent of another life

the only thing blushing
our eyes are a telescope of life

yet, the physiology of our pains
is what children learnt to consume

& now, the forehead of our heart
knows the hemoglobin of an eye that hide
behind every smile & behind every peace.

How to define a Country

i conjured this pain that rephrased
the destiny of homes
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Packet of Lies

it in the heaven’s stomach;
you see a glitter that makes your
hope grow beards
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About the Poet

Mubarak Said TPC XII is a 200-level student of Gombe State University. He emerged as a 3rd runner-up in the poetry category of the 2022 Bill Ward Prize for Emerging Writers. He is a winner in the March edition of the threposs poetry contest, long-listed in Gimba Suleiman Hassan esq poetry prize, and also a guest contributor at Applied worldwide, US. He is a member of Jewel literary and creatitivity foundation and Hilltop creative arts foundation.