Lantern

Fisayo Adeyeye

Like a bird teased from the leaves,         the fire

is a wisp           to be touched             or torched.

To be the softness                 where flame meets

flesh. To be the body too,                    st(r)oked

into amazement.                To be the plump skin

puckering          in the heat.             The feathers

shaken from the scalp.           The scabbed thing

lying nestled             between the cracked wood.

Naked, but                               for all this smoke.  

blckfsh / bird enthusiast / benign boy / fisayo adeyeye has works published in souvenir lit journal / nailed magazine / the birds we piled loosely / and he is the author of cradles (nomadic press 2017). find his website here: www.fisayoadeyeye.com