Today, I choose to plant words
that will bloom tomorrow.
Not just the soothing–fleeting feeling
of a new season.
I want it slow & steady,
the stubborn glow of healing
in my brittle body.
Say, season greetings. But I’m not interested
in this thundering noise
of fake promises, prophecies & fanfares.
I’m not impressed by these fireworks;
I want the fire that works
its way through my blood,
through my bones, marrows & joints,
to re-baptize my firelit tongue
& write repair on these bruises.
It’s January again—& What Is New
About The New Year? Say, sizzling greetings! I mean;
It's still a sizzling season instead of harmattan. I mean;
somebody somewhere is smiling in suffering. I mean;
somebody somewhere is renaming an old wound, here,
in the city of open fractures. A child & his bandage
are learning the grammar of false hope
& we call it New Year’s Resolution?
Olusegun Ajayi is a Nigerian bilingual poet. Shortlisted for the 2026 Kalanithi Writing Awards & Poetry Mine (2026), longlisted for the 2026 Verse & Voice Competition, & 2025 JAY Lit Awards. His work has appeared/forthcoming in Radon Journal, Book of Matches, AUIS Journal, Journal of Africa Youth Literature & elsewhere.