slightly before we were tender

Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi

first time i licked blood an excessive craving 
for màámi's stew had slit my tongue open 

halfway through our evening meal, my taste buds like an eid heifer
obeying the knife's call & here blood became a sigil for ecstasy 

2nd time i licked blood it was a luscious kiss 
enquiring into a fresh cut on my kneecap in a foot 

ball game this is to say an african child learns too early to water
his thorns into gardens to spoon his bruise into sensual orgasm 

next time i remember licking blood father's fist missed
màámi's face & nestled gloriously between my 

teeth bleeding me all i need to know about being 
anti-karnstein in a home where it's night all day 

tonight i am licking blood again and it's a mock at
tempt at biting father's shadow into a tiny song on my frail lips