Tuesday Poem by Dami Ajayi

A Ghazal for my Innocence

I once asked father how children came about. He looked
into my brown eyes & said, your mother & I prayed
so that night, I knelt & asked God
to give me a brother, I prayed
between role-playing with my peers
& being fondled by furtive fingers, I prayed
laid hands on my mother’s tummy & wishing it erupts
like Mummy Sharon’s belly, though father was away, I prayed,
my innocence beaten by my mother’s paranoia
& her unwavering trust of neighbours, I prayed;
innocence veiled by a gossamer of ignorance,
I knew coitus only by its tonal native name, yet I prayed
with the conviction of a child’s well-fed delusion,
mother’s love diminishing with father’s seasonal return, still I prayed
till science showed me procreation
& the positions couples assume when they prayed.