in a video,
i watch how chaos chases a boy from home.
on the runway,
a rifle points him towards heaven’s gate
& a bullet catches up with him.
like a pinball arcade,
a boy is fired into strange horizons
& the only way home is a road that leads nowhere.
in a country not far from here,
blood has washed humanity off its borders.
bones are mistaken for bricks,
pandemonium sways like pendulum,
rockets swinging from both sides,
& there, a boy stuck at the center of chaos,
where the only thing that brings light is fire.
he watches how fire eats up his home
& doesn’t spare his family.
tears flowing into storm,
but it isn’t enough to kill the fire.
in another video,
a girl is badly hurt.
her voice
collapsing like her father,
her home, her country.
her body, buried under burning clouds,
becomes a log of hope.
& the birds,
have taken all that’s left of it.           

Image Credit: Starboyscotty

Author’s Bio

Agboola Tariq A., Swan II, is an unfolding poet from Western Nigeria & an undergraduate student of law at the University of Ibadan. He explores in his writing, self / identity & spaces he occupies. Some of his works are forthcoming/in Brittle Paper, Eunoia Review, Olumo Review, IceFloe Press, The Hellebore Press, Variety Pack, Fiery Scribe Review, The Poetry Journal & elsewhere.  He tweets: @Agboola_Tariq_A