Naming The Abstract II
by Adesiyan Oluwapelumi
Something alive is burning. Its smoke dissipating into our nostrils. My lover asks me how much the love measures? & I don’t answer: an empty room between us. The stereo plays a tune, & I waltz with the wind drifting into her arms again. The distance still near: an empty room between us: our voices folded under the matter of this vacuum. Outside, the sun heats an oak tree. Again, something alive is burning. My father walks in and the October wind follows. Nostalgic. Cold sunset in my throat. The smoke clears, & for an hour, we stare animated at our fingers, all our sins imprinted on them. There is never enough room to fill the silence & yet it never empties enough. A few of us escape this life, branch into worlds created by our minds. But not all of us have that luxury. Some of us have a mind, set for destructive thoughts. Some of us die in our minds. Some of us are dying. Some of us are dead. We are the air breathing the life to our bodies & that is more bane than glory. The earth heaves, sweeping the cold ashes into its grave. Something alive is burning tonight.
Adesiyan Oluwapelumi, TPC XI, is a medical student, poet, essayist & Assistant Editor of Fiery Scribe Review from Nigeria. Winner of the Cheshire White Ribbon Day Creative Contest (2022), & 1st runner up in the Fidelis Okoro Prize for Poetry (2023). His works are published/forthcoming in Fantasy Magazine, Poet Lore, Tab Journal, Poetry Wales, Variant Literature & elsewhere. A 2023 Adroit Journal Summer Mentee & a 2023 SprinNG Writers’ Fellow, his works were selected for inclusion in the Annual Outstanding Young Writers Anthology (Paper Crane, 2023). He tweets @ademindpoems.