'Mucus of Reason' by Oluwatoyosi Agbaakin
He must have wiped
the mucus of reason-
a pus from his brain
the night he saw her body
swollen, ready to be poked by his fleshy pincers
How couldn’t he know that
her meat is the only food
he was forbidden from eating.
but the demons in his groins
ashore, swam viciously across hormones.
How do you forbid a lion
whose lips have known strange blood
from ploughing the land further
meant for another farmer
outside the blood circle
So every night like a devil
he’d crawl out of a daughter’s skin
and scold her to tell nobody of the deed.
Agbaakin O. Jeremiah,is a Nigerian poet who studied law at the University of Ibadan. He has been awarded in few contests: A finalist in 2014 Christopher Okigbo Poetry Contest, PIN Challenge, and currently a five-time finalist of Briggite Poirson Poetry Contest in 2016. He is published or forthcoming on Sentinel Literary Quarterly, BPPC Anthology, The Kalahari Review, Sub-Saharan Magazine, African Writer, NCL, Elsieisy, W. R. R, Kreative Diadem, etc. He also writes prose. This poem was first published on poetry.wrr.ng
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