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“love charms as relics of rape culture” & “the concept of leaving” | Pamilerin Jacob

“love charms as relics of rape culture” & “the concept of leaving” | Pamilerin Jacob

love charms as relics of rape culture the concept of leaving Pamilerin Jacob Agbowo Art African Literary Art

mayehun = refuse me not = touch & follow

             : a woman is led to slaughter

 

gbetugbetu = hypnosis = refuse me not

             : & the gods are skilled butchers

 

ase = refuse me not = obedience is better

than sacrificing

an eye to fistfuls of rage.

             : a wall’s silence is not an invitation, to build a door.

 

amudo is simply how a man obtains

license from the spirit world

to enter a woman’s body, without a yes

 

& the gods hold her down.

 

the concept of leaving

(after adedayo adeyemi agarau)

because leaving-

 

1.

…is a type of death, the sacrament

of absence:      grandpa stubs his toe

whenever he recollects the history of his lips

how once, the cadaver before him used to suck on them.

 

2.

… is a type of resurrection. to tear open a wall

in search of a ghost. to tear open a lover

in search of a vow.

you have not really left

if your name is a wildfire

razing my breast.

3.

…is living in between sighs, as a religion.

the ritual of escape, of biting into a rock

to know what the ancestors taste like.

 

4.

…is running on four limbs, in tears

as the spirit of god haunts you

in a dream.

 

5.

…is relief.

 

…is belief in the power of the sun

to lick up water, gathering in the lungs.

 

…is a kind of prophecy

whispered by the full moon

to the wolf, basking in its light.

 


Pamilerin Jacob Agbowo Art African Literary Art Pamilerin Jacob is a young poet & mental health enthusiast. His poem was shortlisted for the Ken Egbas Prize for Festival Poetry 2017. He is the author of Memoir of Crushed Petals (2018). Pamilerin is a sucker for chocolate ice cream & Khalil Gibran.

Instagram handle: @jacques_wharley
Twitter handle: @ibiyemiolawale

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