by Edward Lee
A Room Crimsoned by a Dim Lantern
While we were growing, there was
a nightly tradition before going to bed:
We enter our parent’s room, dip
our hands in a container and touch
our tongues with our honeyed fingers
while they stare at us from their bed,
a room crimsoned by dim lantern –
displaying dad & mum in silhouette.
The first night we did this,
I beckoned at the village river to
carry me downstream,
a boat blared its horns at a waterbird.
Sometimes I was under the water
contesting expertise with fishes.
Sometimes I was winning several boats.
And when I woke the next morning,
I was all sweat and water:
a boy who in real life had never touched
a river before;
not even with his eyes.
Taofeek Ayeyemi fondly called Aswagaawy is a Nigerian lawyer, writer and author of the chapbook Tongueless Secrets (Ethel Press, 2021) and a collection aubade at night or serenade in the morning (Flowersong Press, TBD 2021). His works have appeared in Lucent Dreaming, Ethel-zine, artmosterrific, Banyan Review, tinywords, the Quills and elsewhere. He won Honorable Mention Prizes in 2020 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize, 2020 Akita International Haiku Contest, among others. He is Taofeek Ayeyemi on Facebook and Twitter.
Edward Lee is an artist and writer from Ireland. His paintings and photography have been exhibited widely, while his poetry, short stories, non-fiction have been published in magazines in Ireland, England and America, including The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, Acumen, Feral, The Blue Nib and Poetry Wales. He is currently working on two photography collections: Lying Down With The Dead and There Is A Beauty In Broken Things. He also makes musical noise under the names Ayahuasca Collective, Orson Carroll, Lego Figures Fighting, and Pale Blond Boy. His blog/website can be found at https://edwardmlee.wordpress.com