by Jide Badmus

It’s a rainy morning.
The earth breathes
cold on its citizens.
I reach for a blanket of
flesh that is unavailable.

The room is filled
with pieces of you—
strands of hair,
vestige of scent,
mirage of smile &
a ghost of your voice.
There is a depression
on your side of the bed—
but these walls struggle
to reconstruct memories.
The mirror claims not to
recall your body dancing
to my song of fire.
The window denies ever
clapping hands over ears
to shut your screams off.

This bed surely can’t forget
the love we shared—the lust
we bared. Consequences we dared…
It’s a rainy morning

& I long for warmth
but in your absence
I will sit in this teacup
& call cold’s bluff
&
&

Jide Badmus

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Jide Badmus is an electrical engineer, a poet inspired by beauty and destruction; he believes that things in ruins were once beautiful. He is the author of There is a Storm in my Head, Scripture, and Paper Planes in the Rain; curator of Vowels Under Duress; Coffee; and Today, I Choose Joy anthologies. Badmus explores themes around sensuality and healing.