Songs of Anisha
And I'm really gonna miss that traveling man
Mm-hm.
“Albert Matekiriza’s Choice,”
by Peter Kayode Adegbie
“I want to marry her.” He says,
His jaw juts out steady
his face like a sculptor’s work
set in stone, his eyes burn.
Albert’s love for Ruth Katelezi
is rich like the sea, it is straight
as a knife, it glows like a cluster
of stars on a dark night, it doesn’t
ebb even when she texts positive.
“Yes, I’ll marry her.”
“But she is dying”
“We’ll die together”
Her eyes draining and wet
shine in wonder at him,
at his thin smile
and clenched chin.
“Misery,”
by Amina Dauda Oseme
To put me out of misery
Would be to take me
Down the market square and leave me there.
For these people, scorched under heat
Chatter as if they have oil wells
Brewing in their wings.
But to see me live
Would mean trips
Down polished rooms,
Dancing on dead nights.
And troubled sleep.
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