- Tolulope Ogedengbe
A Poem in which my Aunt Reincarnated in Me

by Tolulope Ogedengbe
The day my aunt fell to death,
the house became heavy
with the aura of mouths
sore with grieving songs.
I was asked to sing a dirge in the middle of a rain
as would a soldier to his fallen friend.
I opened my mouth to the void of the night
and a bird in my throat broke free.
today, I felt my dead aunt reincarnated in me,
as I watch a woman surrender to grief, to everything
likened to tears and memories that remind me of a house where relatives burn candles
to mourn the demise of their loved ones.