To a Woman by Her Lover--By Wale Owoade--Nigeria

To a Woman by Her Lover

My woman wears her pudding well
ever faithful, ever knowing
one rod and one pestle
her anger lives in pointed fingers
and silent chuckles of grown stares.

My woman loves her lover well
but who else will love her
when she carries the
world’s troubles in her breast
yet missing so much in her heart?
When her body knows
the shape of shame?
When her thighs are twice
the size of guilt?

But my love for her is a kiss,
a kiss ever knowing that
kisses are external,
my love for her is a love
a love ever knowing that
love is internal

Wale Owoade is a Nigerian poet. His poems have been featured in Apogee Journal, The Bombay Review, Radar Poetry, Yellow Chair Review, The New Black Magazine and in several other journals in U.K, U.S, India, Russia, Canada, Bangladesh, South Africa and Singapore. He is the Publisher and Managing Editor of EXPOUND: A Magazine of Arts and Aesthetics. Wale is currently working on his full length poetry collection.