Category: Serotonin

i am the child of my zodiac parents —cancer

my first weakness is to die 

to die for things that do not need dying for

but i revel too in my superfluidity 

i am water

pure and borderless like the ocean 

mysterious like a crab 

i have unbuttoned myself

peeled off my dreary garments of inadequacies and shame 

so you can be enthralled by my scars

i am an emblem of what doesn’t like to come and go

a stay-in-between 

i am aloof, indifferent 

disillusional maybe 

but not unafraid of losing myself first

before i start losing your own face

so that i am fond of retracting my footsteps 

two strides backwards like a drunk

whenever i see what seems like you even from a distance 

i have known thanksgiving and thankfulness on two different occasions 

i am a thorn in my own flesh —spiteful, unforgiving 

a custodian of walled secrets baked like batik designs 

when i fall i don’t break into two

i shatter beyond irreparable loss

so i don’t come out to play at moonlight dances

for to appease a goddess like me is near impossible 

instead when i give i give

and when i do take, i take away not looking back still

Priye Kebbina is a budding Nigerian poet and writer. She’s a graduate of English and Literature from the University of Benin. She has her works published in Uniben Akpata Magazine, Storyhouse and the defunct Erogospel Magazine. When she’s not working or studying, you can catch her on Facebook and Instagram as Priye Ruby Johnson.