By Olabisi Abiodun Akinwale:
Butterflies- Day 22
Others ways of saying I love you
Anike//what I’m trying to say is//when I lurk at the other end of the phone for a drop of your voice//it’s because the cities in my body are growing into a desert//somewhere the sky is covered in absence// -away from music & voices// & music is a kind of water// & your voice is a kind of music// & when I say I miss you// I’m saying your silence is deep enough to numb a heart// & some memories go weary when isolated from nostrils//& my heart is a gallery of your breathes// arts//memoirs// & of the things you do to submerge my being in bliss//& when I say I’ve been thinking about you// I mean you’re growing on my skin// & you hug my clothes firmly// like holding a wing in a web// like trapping a story in a throat// I mean you’re spreading your tentacles in the hectares of my soul// bringing laughter to places with the tears of walls & sand//& when I ask a lullaby at twilight// it’s because the night is sometimes doorway into a dream// & this dream is you// it’s a poem between your breast// this dream is made of steel// seed// & the strength to ferry my heart to dawn without drowning// & when I say come here jhor with an emoji mimicking my embracing arms// I’m saying sip me in large quantities//& be full till there’s no room for another boy’s hello// I’m saying clutch your body in mine as we light our skins to water// I’m saying only you make butterflies of my aloneness// & I’m saying I love you// & want you here with me.
© Olabisi Abiodun Akinwale
Undiluted Poet
#undilutedpoetry