Cover Image: Tito Arts
Maybe this is why I don’t go Boom.
…God, how I ricochet between certainties and doubts. – Sylvia Plath
I’m God’s beautiful paradox,
completely filled with something that completely empties me.
What exactly, I’m not sure.
But I would give anything to be sure—
to unpendulum,
to be more certain, like the hands of a clock,
tick-tock trekking towards timely destinations.
Alas, I am not.
So I find satisfaction in my many unsatisfactions:
my fiery passions and cold, ashen apathy,
my raging storms and calm thereafter,
brooding moods and light-hearted laughter…
& every in-between I am in between.
Blessed be this curse.
For I’m certain that, with my many uncertainties,
if I were sure, the only thing I would tick towards
would be detonation.
The River
The river strives to be greater than the sea,
But it is already what it desperately wants to be.
Beloved, becoming is a myth;
We flow towards what we already are.
The river is the sea.
The sea is the river.
I could not love you more—
I already did.
Baaji Akura is a poet, writer, and spoken word poet whose work is defined by inventive wordplay and a deep engagement with sociopolitical themes. His poetry navigates the complexities of human emotion with a simplicity that remains intellectually and emotionally resonant. In 2025, he emerged as the winner of the Benue Book and Arts Festival (BBAAF) Poetry Slam.
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