at my wedding I owned nothing but hips heaps of broken dreams
and silent lips I smeared my angst with heavy make-up
and faux grins to pepper-up the guests for Mama
I swung my hips too dancing to echoes of my forgone dreams
I’ve left Papa’s abode to thrive at someone else’s
my hips will soon dance to poundings to spankings from
strange symphony I will be okay though Papa says I’m rich
I own a waist that bewitches men I know I’m a scrap a mere
swap for gold I know I’m poor if not waist I’d be a waste
I’ve own nothing but hips heaps of broken dreams and silent lips
Jimoh Adeiza Abdulrahaman is an Ebira-Nigerian creative and a Chemical Engineering undergraduate at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. He made the longlist for Abubakar Gimba prize for CNF in 2023, the shortlist for 2024 PROFWIC Valentine Contest. He has a poem forthcoming in Above the Rain Collectives’ Final Passenger speculative anthology. His works have also appeared in SprinNG, World Voice Magazine, Eboquills Our Girls anthology, Poetic Africa issue 10, 50 words stories, and elsewhere. When not writing or solving intimidating calculations, he’s tweeting on X @JimohAbdul19, Facebook @jimmyabdy.