By Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo
Some of us only know this on television shows;
The mask, the glow on the faces of children returning from school,
The smell of virgin books begging to be read, crispy pages,
The splash of rain and laugher, on the kids’ heads and cheeks,
The home not been bombed to ashes or ravaged by bullets,
The long-term refugees now finding a place to call their homes,
My brother now finding love in old practices,
Now joining us again to listen to moonlight tales.
Happiness is scarce but at least we find it within the pages of our books,
On television, on the faces of Gaza boys holding sweet,
Within the kola-stained teeth of widows seeing their kids heal.
Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo is a Nigerian poet and Veterinary Medical Student, whose first love is art making. He is an avid reader, who sees poetry in everything and has a great interest in storytelling. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming in: Iman Collectives, South Florida Poetry Journal, Olongo Africa, Roanoke Review, Kissing Dynamite, The Night Heron Barks Review, Santa Ana River Review, Stand Magazine, Louisiana Literature, Obsidian: Literature and Art in the African Diaspora, Collateral Journal, Welter Journal, Levitate Magazine and elsewhere.