Timi Sanni

---

I burn the pages of living for the beauty that lives in fire
& become ash in a conversation that rages within my head

where the voices are stronger than my fist around the mast
of this ship on the sea of horror, where their favorite words

are: cut, sleep, live, l e a – v e. I glide paper planes along the runway
of my wrist to let an ocean of crimson water flow onto the tarmac

of a ragged mind. This red snake slithering across my arm leaves
a splat of venom on the cold, marble floor & I – an outcast of living –

enjoy the melancholy of this rebellion because when tears begin
to flood a neighboring town, we know that grief is a giant

that has found home within a broken body. The night, in guise
of relief brings me an aphrodisiac & demons begin to claim

a betrothal to me. & because horror carries the weight
of a certain void too heavy for one man, I wake to dawn’s light

singing aubades to crows in the house of darkness.

---

Timi Sanni is a Nigerian writer and literary enthusiast. His works have been published or are forthcoming in various literary journals like Radical Art Review, African Writers, Rather Quiet, Praxis Magazine and elsewhere. Timi’s work often addresses emotions and truth. He recently won the SprinNG Poetry Contest and is the recipient of the Fitrah Review Prize for Fiction 2020. When not writing or studying, he is either painting or exploring new hobbies. Find him on Twitter (@timisanni.)