Variency

Abdullah Adedokun, Nigeria

the girls at home hold their cornrows to their gods;
you too, a kind of prayer — before every good thing they want,
away from home, halfway between your laughter and another
bottle of beer, you crackle as your mother searches for
you on your map & tells you about the little girl who
sweeps the best, innocent, meant for people like you
Who else crossed borders before you did?

In Brooklyn; everyday you see boys
the color of your skin who ran from home but
never finds it back; your pocket always has a map &
you laugh together when their mothers call
of how these cities house you all, like, mama,
e different from home, everybody dey mind im business

You, a prayer too, a kind of dream
& little girls sweep your mothers hut at home;
& cook dinners for her & they laugh together &
they say "like I'll do for your son", you, a new
variant of old species.

But today another waitress wakes you up,
different from yesterday's,
and counts the time you've spent stuck
halfway between bottles of liquor, you,
a new variant
that withers before its bloom.

Olajuwon Abdullah Adedokun is a Nigerian teen writer who was born and raised in the suburbs of Lagos. His works appear in Eunoia review, Brittle Paper, Rusted Radishes, and Writers Space Africa among others. He is a Foyle Young Poet, a second runner-up for the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize and a winner of the 2020 Barjeel international poetry contest.

Apart from teaching children how to join between Arabic alphabets, he loves watching Baby Olympics and Self defense hacks on YouTube.