i saw an owl
cried twice before
dawn
with the night as an alibi
i see mortals in mourning clothes
my mother sets
her dreamcatcher,
she collects all my nightmares
in one
basket & eats them overnight.
i see my brother in the moon orbs
he lives on through cycle of rebirths
i carry his soul in my mouth,
a reincarnated cherry from a random pick of autumn
a dead end to the matyrs who lived till
through dying breaths,
re-writing fate with
a pen made from branches
of a tree that weighs our sins.
Aeesha Abdullahi Alhaji is a poet and a creative writer whose works have appeared/forthcoming on the Chiron Review, Blue Minaret Journal, Crank Magazine, The Yellow House, The Beatnikcowboy, Tampered Press Journal, ParABnormal Magazine, The Open Collective Magazine and elsewhere. She is a member of the Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation, Minna Literary Society and has received a fellowship from the Ebedi International Writer’s Residency. She tweets @AlhajiAeesha on X(Formerly Twitter).