by Shitta Faruq Adémólá
The Greenskeeper
spring comes cruel as an aching growth
plate, deep in the bones.
this reminder of youth, everything
saturated with sex: pollen, birds,
the pairs that walk the garden path,
nature bearing against man’s constraints.
& then they bloom, beautiful & terrible,
like blood in a basin: the azaleas
red as a yanked tooth.
another bottle down the drain. i envy
the bees coupling by the benches,
intent as they are on their plunge
earthward, their only distraction
the threat of the ground beneath them.
their onyx abdomens,
glistening with sunlight. no colleagues
to bury, no friends to mourn, just sex
& the beat of their beautiful, translucent wings.
spring comes cruel as my mother
with a washcloth, a switch, a
paddle. this remainder of youth:
the fear of anything warm
& brightly adorned. i feign indifference
with a trowel & a wheelbarrow of compost.
still, i must work to soothe
my aching bones, to placate the aging
woman in the mirror each morning,
whose knees groan each time i stoop
to plant a new seedling. how grey she grows.
how grey & frail & quaint,
this stranger who inhabits my body.
soil still cakes my fingernails, a bottle
still waits every night at home, but i am
fading to a pale sliver: soon there will be
nothing left of me but my trowel
& the flowers that open so greedily, day after day
after vibrant, solitary, heedless day.
Michaela Mayer is a 25-year-old poet and kindergarten teacher. She earned a B.A. in English from the College of William & Mary and an Ma.Ed. from the same institution. Her works have been previously published or are forthcoming in Mineral Lit Mag, Perhappened Mag, Minute Magazine, Burning House Press, Snapdragon Journal, Windows Facing Windows, and Survivor Lit. She can be found on Twitter @mswannnayer5.
Shitta Faruq Adémólá is a young Muslim Poet, Phone Photographer and Fiction Writer From Nigeria. His works appear or are forthcoming in Jalada Africa, The Kalahari Review, Third Estate Art, Rigorous Magazine, Chautaqua, Praxis Magazine, African Writers and elsewhere. He was a joint winner in the Shuzia PenProtest Contest, 2020; a second place winner in Naija Haiku Contest, 2020; and also a joint winner in PIN 10-DAY Poetry challenge (November 2020. He always believe Simi’s voice are always ever charming. When he’s not playing Scrabbles, he’s admiring fair ladies along the busy streets in Abeoukuta. Say hi on Twitter @shittafaruqade1.