I asked if this lebensraum of furtive
memory could house my body//they said
no//that they can not withstand//my
mother’s wrath//that I am a conch//only
meant to kiss the salty sea at sunset.
they said in contorted clamours that every
sad face//is sculpted from the same sorry
clay.//I said no//that our demons are
composite of different debris//that
happiness is a place//and some people are
homeless//like birds//when trees are felled.
then they asked for an exchange//of my
body//for a droplet of nirvana.//I said no//
that we all become water at the journey’s end//
at sunset//and this house is not for sale.
Oni Tomiwa is a lover of poetry. A lover of every form of art and an amateur nature photographer. He resides and writes in Osogbo, Osun State. His poems and essays have appeared in both prints and journals. He also loves football.