A Song To All The Fishes My Net Couldn’t Hold

j.w 
i bless you 
for training my heart 
for war
for making me believe 
it's not every girl who prefers her lover black 

and smart and whatever

e.w 
i celebrate you

 like the way a country celebrates its independence
 like the way our house celebrated the conception
 of a barren aunty

 remember
 in junior high you crawled into my chest 
 and grew into a burning desire
 and for the first time in many years
 i stopped cursing adam 
 for stupidly falling into a hole dug by an eve

 k.s
 like the man nailed to a cross 
 you are a god wearing human skin

 once in an english class we are asked to describe
 beauty and angel in one word

 and i wrote your name.

Ayouba Toure writes from Paynesville, Liberia. His work has been published (or forthcoming) at Praxis Magazine,Afritondo,Odd Magazine, and elsewhere