Dunni Abisayo: Here I Seek Refuge

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

Here I Seek Refuge

In a vessel I have for so long treated as the enemy.
Deserving of punishment, the sprawling black mass of it. For all
it craves. In the ways it so stubbornly
defies me. Still standing,
even after the wars I have waged against it. A one-sided battle,
a double-edged sword: you do not starve the body without starving
the spirit too. But I am stubborn. But I am also tired.
For I have run from this body for so long.
yet found little peace
anywhere
I have tried
to go without it.

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Dunni Abisayo is a queer Nigerian storyteller who grew up in London. A senior at Georgetown University, she is studying English and African American Studies. She was the recipient of the 2020 Singing Bullet Poetry Scholarship.