Abraham Ogebe Adonduwa is a writer of poetry and short stories and has been published in a few international literary journals and magazines, Origami and OntheRusk amongst them. He hopes to publish more poems and more stories about his beloved home Nigeria, and he also hopes to take out time to travel more, which is another thing he loves almost as much as writing.
BROKEN
HEART
I walk with Adanne,
Leisurely,
Down the river side
She clasps her index finger around mine
It wraps it the way vine does a tree
Her tender touch evokes memories
Of a time when as kids
We buried our tooth in the dirt
So that a new one could grow in its place
and hid inside my parents’ garage
where she lifted up her skirt
And showed me herself.
I remember the first kiss we shared
Her lips warm and parting
Mine cold and pressing...
Down the river an object floats
She stoops to pick up the heart shaped leaf
And I see stretch marks ride out
From her butt crack like fault lines
I try to snatch the leaf from her
She giggles and attempts to draw back
But I already held on to a fraction
So it splits in half.
CAREFREE
Suddenly, one fine morning,
A bird approached my window
As I sat staring at the rising sun
It’s black and yellow colours fascinated me
That and the defiance in the way it stared right
back
As if to say; I dare you to catch me.
If I was a bird
I too could visit any window of my choosing
On any particular morning
And stare back at a total stranger
Not caring that it’s rude and intrusive
Unafraid, because I know that he is not fast enough
to catch me
Weighed down as he is by all that flesh and bone
And fear of the drop down below
If he manages to get off at all
While I simply flap my wings and fly sky high
So far from his reach before he blinks an eye,
So far from any threat to my existence,
Carefree.