MYSTERY

By Jide Badmus

is how a body keeps
secrets from its owner,

how a fever hides in 
a crack on the lip or

how the tongue breaks
down walls fists can't.

Mystery is how a body can 
be hale & ailing all at once,

how broad the 
savannah of heart 

that predators & preys 
sleep on the same bed,  

how fear leaves the kitchen
when it's love's time to cook,

or how kindness takes a nap
while anger burns down the hut.

I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE A POEM ON NUANCE

but words become 
handicap 

when you need them. 
Veins vanish, melt 

into skin at the hint 
of a doctor's probe.

I've always wanted to write 
about the kettle's hiss,

how pain is musical
—how the sky's boil bursts 

into crimson dusks
& grows back after 

the roosters curse.
How a smile is simple 

& laughter is a craft.
How time never grew 

a beard.
​BIO: 

Jide Badmus is an engineer, a poet inspired by beauty and destruction; he believes that things in ruins were once beautiful.

He is the author of There is a Storm in my Head; Scripture; Paper Planes in the Rain; Paradox of Little Fires; Silk Psalms; and Anatomy of the Sun (and everything beneath). Obaluaye is forthcoming with Flowersong Press, June 2022. He has a Pushcart Prize nomination.

Founder of INKspiredng, Poetry Editor for Con-scio Magazine; he sits on the board of advisors for Libretto Magazine.

Jide writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He tweets @bardmus