I am learning to love my child
whose father split my legs
into an opened brochure
to read hallowed letters of a sacred light
I am learning to love him
even when his pout
is the picture
of a man who snatched
the knowledge of how to smile
from my spout
I am learning to love
my child
My face clouds up at will
when his air comes to remind
of that day’s odour
when a skin bruised mine
and razor-sharp fingers
cut thick anguish
whose scars
refuse to shrink
I am learning to love him
even when he bites my nipple
while I fed him and I am
reminded
of how his father’s teeth tore them
I am learning to love
my child
He grew and learned to talk
with his father’s voice
the monster who dug a hole
into me and stained the floor
with his water and my blood
The beginning was no word
just a flower that blew off
the air was all dark desires
lost, pure as light in his bulbs
no spot reads “darkness begins from these dots”.
But a monster hand
went into my skirt
and sowed
what I am still learning to love
until he became a man
in his father’s shadows
replicated my scars
on the body of a neighbour’s daughter
© Saddiq Dzukogi
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5th October 2015Deep very deep in deed.
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5th October 2015Wow!! The ending though….sins of the father repeated by the son:-/ this is amazing poetry
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5th October 2015Great piece Saddiq… I can feel its verisimilitude
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5th October 2015Jesus! This piece scared the hell out of me in so many ways. I hope and pray i will be a better father than my father.
Awesome piece
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5th October 2015That ending…chills!
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5th October 2015the pacing is so apt, there are layers to this poem, wow
Abigail Arunga –
5th October 2015Beautiful. Prolific.
Akuya Ekorot –
5th October 2015leaves a tight grip in your tummy. Beautiful.
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5th October 2015One of those pieces that lives one speechless. Poignant.
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5th October 2015This poem is very touching and hits the heart with so much passion.
That ending, though. It sends chills into my spines, too.
Great work, saddiq
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6th October 2015Disgustingly interesting. The twist in the end reminds me of how much I hated some of those epic tragic movies set in Italy and/or Greece where your favorite actor dies and leaves you in the gutters of pitiable sorrow dug by unwitting empathy. I’m so sorry for the persona. Keep writing sir. Some of us want to learn more.
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7th October 2015WOW. gripping read!