Portrait of Me
by Abdulkareem Abdulkareem
Kwara, Nigeria
Sometimes, I'm a building crumbling to axes
from the hands of men, & sometimes, I'm the
leg that slips on a slippery tile to end up with
a sprained knee, & someday, I'm the caterpillar
unable to transform into a butterfly. What does
it mean when the body is wilting like a flower,
when the body is a wall in which bullets ricochets
off? Lord, apply your balm to my sprained arm,
erase the glyphs of pain from my skin, the carnage
in my memories— bless them with your wind.
Abdulkareem Abdulkareem
Abdulkareem Abdulkareem (Pānini) (he/him), Frontier III, is a Nigerian writer, he studies Linguistics at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. His poem was shortlisted for the top 20 poems of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021 & the top entries of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (August/September) 2021. His works appear/forthcoming on Poetrycolumn NND, Shallow Tales Review, Brittle Paper, Ice Floe, Rigorous, Second Chance lit, Olney magazine, Window Facing Window Review, Celestite Poetry, Sledgehammer lit, Salamander Ink, Afro Literary Magazine, Lunaris Review, Kissing Dynamite, Afrocritik & elsewhere. He is a member of The Frontiers Collective. He tweets @panini500bc. Instagram: panini_500bc