Samuel Adeyemi

Unfiltered

if the poem says my stomach is a rosebush
unweathered from Spring, darling, believe it
like a litany. some boys simply cannot fit anguish
into euphemism. want me to say i am anxious for
morning, when it is hunger that huddles me to sleep.
i reject this acoustic grief. this affliction stripped of
venom.
O, sweet mother. nobody wants a honeyless boy.
O, Sylvia. if the poem is too confessional,
what will become of my body?
i do not want a lover to hold my hands
& begin to feel a couplet.

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Samuel Adeyemi is an eighteen year old Nigerian writer and an ardent lover of literature. His poems have appeared in EBOquills, Ghost Heart Literary Journal and Perhappened Mag and are forthcoming in The Kalahari Review. When he is not writing, he enjoys watching anime and listening to a variety of music. You may reach him on Twitter and Instagram @samuelpoetry.