The Girl That Taught Me Love
[For Moshuud Shakiroh Adepeju.]
she said:
“stand adjacent to her window and
serenade her, sing songs that pierce minds,
arrest ears, imprison hearts. that's one
way of loving a girl without saying it.
kneel before her feet, behold her face
and confess that it glitters
tell her the moon steals from her brightness.
tell her to halt her breath, to feign death
and watch life spring out of you,
say you breathe with her soul, tell her
there's space, wide enough to harbour
you, in her heart till forever.
tell her to be disabled is not only
to be without legs or hands,
that a man whose heart is not in the tender palms
of his lover is disabled too.
About the author
Fadairo Tesleem is a young Nigerian poet that writes from Ilorin, Kwara state. He is a teacher, a poetry coach, and a literary critic. He is also a member of Hill-Tip Creative Art Foundation and the Association Of Nigerian Authors. His poems have been published or forthcoming in Fiery Scribe Review, Pangolin Review, Queer Toronto literary magazine, Arts lounge, Best of Africa, Blue Minaret, Down in the Dirt, Ninshãr Arts, Blue pepper, Upwrite Magazine, Inverse Journal, Eremite Poetry, Second chance & a host of other publications. He tweets @Olakunle.
