please, let me burn. place a gourd next to my head plant a white rose in the space between my eyes & set fire to this body till it combusts into a scene of golden flames. let my ashes travel towards the sky & watch as they go settle on god’s palm. my eyes are yards and yards of white i can’t explain an ode to joy let my name play on your tongue like a song you can’t get out of your head; this is me existing inside of you and inside of myself simultaneously. a firefly dancing to the music of a silent room. odd things carry the most beauty. let my story mix with the sheet of rainbow that is the sky & if in the end, i cease to be, please, remember that this fire breathed life into me and i, too, died a happy boy.
AmeenAnimashaun is a Nigerian poet. His writings explore grief, sexuality and identity. A winner of the Inkspired Poetry Contest, his works have appeared or are forthcoming in Agbowo, Libretto Magazine, Poetry Nation, EroGospel, The YAPAnthology and elsewhere. He writes from Lagos. An oddball. A butterfly. He tweets @AmeenAnimashaun.