A soul seeks a coal pot of smoldering ember
to swelter his freezing bone, in the same space,
another soul seeks the shadow of Antarctica to
sift the bonfire enraging his body. Both sides
preying on each other as they pray. See, God
answers the prayer of a man, & the unlit body
of another man is brightened with an incandescent
glow & in another story, God waters two floral
gardens with rain, & one man blooms & the other wilts
Into a thick bush. The messenger birds carrying
these prayers to God are clashing, perhaps like
metals. I do not say another man must be reduced to
nothing each time we stretch our hands to God
so he can plant a flower on them. What I mean is—
I do not want to be the tree ripped off earth while
the wind blows the dust off the dirty surface.
Abdulkareem Abdulkareem (Pānini) (he/him), Frontier III, is a Nigerian writer, he studies Linguistics at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. His poem was shortlisted for the top 20 poems of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021 & the top entries of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (August/September) 2021. His works appear/forthcoming on Poetrycolumn NND, Shallow Tales Review, Brittle Paper, Ice Floe, Rigorous, Second Chance lit, Olney magazine, Window Facing Window Review, Celestite Poetry, Sledgehammer lit, Salamander ink, Afro literary magazine, Lunaris Review, Kissing Dynamite & elsewhere. He is a member of The Frontiers Collective. He tweets @panini500bc. Instagram panini_500bc
Illustration by C.B. Auder.
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