Image: Artyom Kulakov via Prexels

giving money to / the beggar at the motor park / does not guarantee / your safe journey / the vehicle flips twice / cutting into the cold air / forgets that you are not one / with the glass about to break / & it breaks / windows crumbling & pouring / your skin / a dartboard for steel / your bones / white wood / for the ritual of fire / look at the art / of split-second ruin / a testament / to the deafness of time / you will pray / to the clocks / & make a god out / of transience / but it cannot stop / the future / already has too much history / see how language / reclines to the past / & the present leans into memory / yesterday / red was / your daughter’s favourite colour / today / the car / smeared with her blood / tomorrow / the roses / beside her little coffin

Samuel A. Adeyemi is a young writer from Nigeria. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Palette Poetry, Frontier Poetry, 580 Split, Leavings Lit Mag, The Shore, African Writer, The African Writers Review, Jalada, and elsewhere. When he is not writing, he enjoys watching anime and listening to a variety of music. You may reach him on Twitter and Instagram @samuelpoetry