Escaping Drowning Memories
written by: Oluwafisayo Akinfolami
I have learnt to escape memories,
that have holes in form of an open mouth
because they drink into a distance
of a drowning river.
I have the memory of a January morning
that says my brother’s friend died;
the last memory I have of him
was the year before when he laughed into tears.
And in that morning, grief scurried the building
& fed children to silence.
His laughing face, derealized in my mind.
My tongue is shaped like the morning to curse
syllables that mothers such memories.
So each day, in the space of my mind
I bark at boys to laugh and not die.
These memories, clamped to an unrecognised
road has found a way to map my body
with whittled knives.
Oluwafisayo Akinfolami is a student of history and international studies at the university of Ilorin. She sometimes writes to express her mind on things that are attention consuming. She loves reading and writing. She writes from Abuja, Kwara and whatever place she finds herself at. Her poems has appeared and forthcoming on Poetry Potion, Praxis Magazine, Writer Space Africa and elsewhere.
Latest posts by Oluwafisayo Akinfolami (see all)
- Escaping Drowning Memories - September 2, 2020
