if the world began in the name of a woman, she wouldn’t be eve. she'd be the ‘seed’ bearing a dark country where [...] is the life expectancy. she’d be a scrappy song slippery on the tongues of […] you'd think you know all about her until […] bullets pluck the seeds in her uterus you’d find that mortality is […] when she tries to attain immortality in the labor room. you’d google her name & find […] because she is “a” in “avoid” & “de” in devoid. if the world began on the geography of a country she’d be a girl tattooed at the night with […] & when her breasts & bosom grew flowers she’d still bear the shame you shamed her with a grace, so […] because her body is a temple devoid of worshippers. you’d trample on her & hit her face because her insignificance reaches […] you’d ask her to queue behind a thousand stones because her voice is […] in this dark country- if the world began in the name of a woman, she wouldn’t be eve. she’d be […] *[…]: dot, dot, dot.
by Ojo Olumide Emmanuel
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). His works have appeared and forthcoming at Ake Review, Feral, African Writers, The Shallowtales Review, Kalahari Review, Quills, Poemify, Melbourne-Culture, TNR and elsewhere. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Nigerian Review (TNR) and a senior mentor at the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation. He lives in Minna (Nigeria).
Aayo Magazine 