almost a love poem • Protean Magazine

love is a wretched wretched thing
—Brian Gyamfi

memory is a mystery that drags

you to the truth you’ve shrouded

your entire life.

I’ve always known love

as suicidal — a cross too heavy

for the heart to bear. in Arabic, when someone’s

entire being fascinates you; you

screw I love you & say تقبرني: bury me. ya3ni: a

world without you, my love, is not worthy of me.

ya3ni: i love you in every impossible way.

ya3ni: anyone ever worth loving is worth dying for.

i don’t have the words, but i love you;

i love you in spite of my terrors and the toll

it has taken on my suspended life.

worry

kills the soul, exhaustion wearies the body, anxiety

messes with the head

what i’m saying, habibti, is:

this could have been a love poem, but what flower

blooms from the soils of a doomed land?

Fadairo Tesleem (TPC vi) is a Nigerian poet, a Pushcart & Best of The Net nominee. Tesleem is also the author of the pamphlet, Sacraments of Prayer. His poems are published in LOLWE, Geez Magazine, Dillydoun Review, Protean Poetry, Consequence Forum, Efiko Magazine, and elsewhere. Tesleem has received grants & supports from the Horror Writers Association and Boston Writers of Colors, and he currently serves as the assistant poetry editor for Rowayat and as a poetry reader for Consequence Forum. Tesleem is an alumnus of the Olongo Poetry workshop & SpriNG Writing Fellowship.