In The Wilderness

Jimoh Adeiza Abdulrahaman

after little Orphans

we were sowed in a garden where sorrow and grief 
gobble up seedlings. we never knew sorrow could 
grow tall until we were threatened by its broad leaves, 
until we were cut off from photosynthesis,
until we experienced a drought of light, dearth of 
nutrients & our chlorophylls began to wane. fade. 
becoming chars, chars of burnt sugar. our shoots stretched
greedy for light. our shoots stretched and found nothing 
but gloom. in the wilderness, pests and diseases insulate
our shoots with grief. we are seedlings in competition 
with no plants,  seedlings outshined in every competition 
we are not part. we are a species charting a course 
of uncertainty, from angst to doom. we are unsure
whether we will ever imbibe enough nutrients 
to become an Iroko, or whether we will become 
weeds, thorns stealing from successful seedlings. 
we are unsure of anything but the wilderness hatred.
in the wilderness, we are the wild and the less.

Biography

Jimoh Adeiza Abdulrahaman is an Ebira-Nigerian creative and Chemical Engineering undergraduate at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. He made the longlist for the Abubakar Gimba prize for CNF in 2023 and the 2024 PROFWIC Valentine's Contest shortlist. He has a poem forthcoming in Above the Rain Collectives' Final Passenger speculative anthology. His works have also appeared in Sprinng, World Voice Magazine, Eboquills Our Girls anthology,  Poetic Africa issue 10, 50 words stories, and elsewhere.

When not writing or solving intimidating calculations, he tweets @JimohAbdul19.