Olúwafèyíṣarámi

WHEN YOU SLEEP You are some times distant Like the MTN Marathon Far at the beginning But close in the end You stay entwined In the thick bush of your hair At unexpected seasons you flip And fly with the flock of birds Your mouth is speaking The gospel in Psalms And secrets in Revelations Your eyes hide a pirate chest of words Tucked safely in the deep waters of your being But when you sleep . . . Everything ceases to be The race is tortoise The forest is bare The birds at nest The coast is clear.  KM Quadri

new!!! Present day Akinola and Dele were in Dele’s car- blasting the stereo with the windows tightly wound up, showing that the air-conditioner was on- on their way to school. They drove into the school compound and the car was just going round the bend to the car park when Akinola caught sight of Susan, walking with her head bowed as usual. She looked deep in thought.       Once the car was properly parked, akin leapt out, said his goodbyes and went after Susan.  Dele had a good laugh at his friend as he watched him leave. “He is learning faster than I thought.” He thought chuckling to himself.      Akin caught sight of Susan just around a bend, walking with her head bowed. He ran. He was by her side in a matter of minutes. "hi." he said trying to catch his breath and holding her left elbow at the same time to slow her pace down a notch. Unfortunately, that action only managed to startle her out of her wits....

clothed in every shade of color and adorned in only the wrappers befitting to a bride every style, every texture, every hue to wring out the perfection in you... ... but our hands now, are tied; you are best left naked; untouched; and in jail, untried; as a stillborn, your birth never saw the light of day. dead; on that tearful sunny day three years ago. phabrique.

... the barren black desert spread wide before me the ocean of sand swallows me in its expanse,i squint yet i still am, the barren. let those who see spread their hem to hang me on, till i conceive a lamp for my stand. give me water in the desert; as u have done before, so let mine be let the barren be with child give me a lamp for my stand. phabrique.  

It is not a game Nor a fluke It is called symbiosis The entwinement of our spirits Lost in the peculiarity of our being Which we must die to what we own And live in the ordinary Just to be accepted by walking eyes And talking ears. phabrique.

3   plus 7years     Present day.                      Susan’s ears pricked up, waiting to hear the sound again but she did not. She walked shakily to the door and paused behind it for a second just in case there would be a break- in. “I’ve been watching too many Jackie Chan movies.” she thought in spite of herself. She reached for her phone and beeped Vivian. She hoped with all of her heart that they’d assume the message was that she needed their attention urgently. That had always been their signal to her. She’d never beeped either of them before then. She beeped again. Then she heard the sound of running feet.       “Hey. open up! I hope it’s a good surprise or else, we’ll both have your head split in two.” She sighed a sigh of relief at the sound of Tola’s voice. “Oh, am I so glad to see you.” she said, opening the door a fracti...

Present day.  Lagos     Tunde Peters sat at his office desk flipping through the files one by one, rummaging through the files on his table for the appropriate file one. He had just got out of a conference meeting called by his father, the founder of the company- Peters & Peters Plc. He sighed at last, drew out a file from the collapsed stack in front of him and picked up the intercom on his desk.       “Susan, I need you here right away to clean up this mess and bring a cup of coffee with you”. He hung up and moved with long strides to the sofa at the other end of his office. His secretary walked in right then- smart as hell and attractive too- towards him to hand him his coffee then to his desk where she briskly got the whole place cleared up and went out the way she came. He picked up the file labeled Mobola Peters and groaned. He just got promoted within the office and he meant to put his position to good use to fi...