Embodiment Of A Boy Illustrating
Why Poetry Is An Antidote
Mubarak Said
Nigeria
the last time I asked my brother about apartheid
he used a broken piece of my sweat gland
to mould the metaphor of his accent into dissimilar forms
round, slender & wrinkled
& to dilute his poetry with what pulsates his heart like a bomb blast
he once asked me to write a poem about the Minaret of our Masjid
where our Imam hides to soak his days
but why would I write a poem, after all I do is reflecting on the justification
that I chose imagery than a morsel of food, than a dose of medicine
that I chose a metaphor — a route to my home that is unfurled with enigma
this is how I told my stories with my mouth holding the brick of a country
this is how our tales persist to follow this route
where a butterfly explodes beneath a boy’s nails
this is how we endorse to define the eye of a school teacher
when he eats his meal inside a black board
this is how we know our home, this is how we build it
Mubarak Said TPC XII is the 3rd runner-up, poetry category of the 2022 Bill Ward Prize for Emerging Writers. He is a winner, March edition of the threposs poetry contest, long listed in Gimba Suleiman Hassan esq poetry prize, and also a guest contributor at Applied worldwide, US. He is a member of Jewel literary and creatitivity foundation and Hilltop creative arts foundation. His works are forthcoming and published in World Voices Magazine, Brittle paper, Icefloe Press, Literary yard, Beatnik Cowboy, Wellerism, Teen Literary Journal, new feathers anthology, ILA magazine, the yellow magazine, ariel chart, Afrihill, arts lounge, Icreative, piker press, madswirl, imspired magazine, Pine Cone Review, Double speak Magazine, Memory house Magazine, Sink Magazine, Aural magazine, Arting arena, Synchronized chaos, Susa Africa, culture cult press, south broadway press, thebezine magazine, williwash, hot-pot magazine, peppercoarst lit, Literary cocktail, Applied Worldwide, Opinion Nigeria, Today Post, Daily Trust, Daily Companion and elsewhere.