By Olabisi Abiodun Akinwale:
Butterflies- Day 1
& when I say I love you
i do not mean the love vended on the front page of a newspaper,
that my country cannot afford without a bloodshed,
one with a body of broken birds beneath a voice
tongued around promises of heaven on earth.
i do not mean the love with a bouquet of red roses before a room
soundproofed to the clapping of bodies on water,
one arraigned in blues & lightnings
as map to a thigh & the climax of a soul.
i do not mean the love complexioned after dusk
to tame girlhood with box of chocolate & a glass of lust,
one dawn lives to tell in shard & stuttering notes
while spells & regrets weep on walls & windows.
i do not mean the love droughted in dead places
where memories sneak on bodies grieving shadows,
one holding a knife with fluency in the language
of chopping: say carrot/say salt/ say dream/say body/say heart.
Anike & i do not mean the love emitting fireworks
to vaporize God’s voice in a body,
one with a tongue packed with starlight
light enough to walk a boy away from home.
when i say i love you, i mean i love you.
© Olabisi Abiodun Akinwale
Undiluted Poet
#undilutedpoetry