Demystifying the Science Behind Boys in My Country Evaporating into Mist at Every Shutter Click.

there is no mystery here, every language

                     spoken by the gun is a disaster.

the verbs motioning their molecules

                 are too aggressive, pulling sultrily from

the wormhole of their kinetics,

                the communion of fire to fold boys

out of blue into a chalice of mist.

            every shutter click could sound like a gunshot.

vinegar & salt sprinkled on their

                    mothers' plants of prayers.

the equilibrium of disappearance too

              is an unbalanced thing, like a pendulum.

the damp patch of the boys' wetness is from

                       God's tears, & the cloud, a smoke

from God's cigar. the wind scythes

                my hearing, & everything sounds

like the agony birthed by too

              much blood. on disappearance,

boys in my country are meant

             to hoard an inferno like Abraham,

still & unmoved & not burnt.

             to expel the salt in their wounds,

& their gritted teeth without

            motioning a syllable from their mouths

too loud. but grief is a damned thing—

                 it shapeshifts fragments of the boys

who conceal their anguish too much—

                        it turns into something intangible.

to compel a boy subdued by anguish

             into erupting his toothless mouth with a hearty

smile that sticks—is like voweling

         a mannequin to a dance floor. But of course,

happiness can be an emissary

           to anyone's empire if an edict dawns

 it into your living. But some type

                  of fire eats the cauldron & its content.

Abdulkareem Abdulkareem, Frontier III, is a Nigerian writer and Linguist. He is a fellow of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship, 2022. His works appear/forthcoming on POETRY, West Trade Review, Off Topic Publishing, Aster Lit, Poetry Column-NND, The Shore Poetry, Afro Literary Magazine, Brittle Paper, Rulerless Magazine, Better Than Starbucks, Feral Poetry, Claw and Blossom & elsewhere. He won the University of Ilorin SU Writers Competition (Poetry Category) 2022 & the SprinNG Writing Fellowship Poetry Contest. He is also on the shortlist for the top entries of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize, 2021 & Briggite Poirson Poetry Contest, 2022. He reads poetry for Frontier Poetry & Agbowó Magazine. He tweets @panini500bc Instagram @panini_500bc