Poetry: Agboola Damilola | Love

Love!
I knew her before I turned 4
She has two hands now
And two lips wow
I would look up at her face
And my heart would race
I would feel her hands fall on my butt
In loving rebuke, it would hurt

Love
She visited sometime, I was eight
For the first time, I ate
From a woman who was cross eyed
She delighted my gut
A jolt I’d never felt before
Even occupied my every thought
She was a girl, she had lumps

Love
I met her again at church
She was the reason I went on time
Before the long hand and twelve touched
Her round, her edges and her curves
Sent butterflies in my stomach building ridges
As if that wasn’t enough
She would hold my heart in a delightful clutch

Love
She bumped me hard
My heart went flying out
My chest sat empty in front of my back
My stomach bled red roses
Bruised by twigs and thorns
Love had never worn such mean looks
She raised me and held me by the hooks

Love
She was a woman
She came as a man
Sometimes a superhuman
I got confused
Burnt one too many fuse
Just deciding which one
To use…