(For Ayodele Olofintuade)

I have stitched

you a wedding posy

with my pen

smooth her over

your tunic

she will be

a fence

for your bed

against incubus

smokes who skulk

behind green mornings (they want to nest in your quilt)

she will turn

caryatid

for your rump

against winds aching, creeping

up the stairs

to steal your gold waistlaces

the play will

transpose to a poem

after

trapping those spectres

in your trawl

David Ishaya Osu is a young Nigerian poet. He has appeared in: The New Black Magazine, African Writer, The Kalahari Review, Poetic Diversity, Ann Arbor Review, Elohi Gadugi Journal, and elsewhere. He is working on his debut poetry book.