(After Adedayo Agarau)
And if they question your joy,
Say a smile is nothing but grief capsized.
Say howling is how a wolf expels its loneliness
Say people walk into suicide breathing
Say a kiss is an infertile promise
Say love is hope’s mother
Say death, carries relief even empty with joy
Say blue is a colour the human body wears often but our eyes blind to.
Say some days a man is a wet rag
and dark skies,
summer dreams wrapped in mushrooms,
hunting for life
climbing, dressing his shadows to look
like the clouds.
we are open windows and frosty air, layers and
layers of clutter,
dusty sofas and bad timber
a country of history, burning,
begging to have
god call our name.
Christtie Jay is a Nigerian lawyer, freelance writer and a poet who lives in Abuja, Nigeria. Christtie’s writings focus on pain, love, violence, and abuse. As she likes to put it “ I like to write about things people pretend not to exist”. You can find her on Instagram @christtie_jay.