Desert Dwellers

Hear the singsong of djinns sailing
along with the shifting dunes

Image: the Sahara Desert. Photo by Andrzej Kryszpiniuk on Unsplash

The travelers could hear the wind
dancing in their direction,

the land rising to meet it mid-air in the distance.
The patient could hear voices ancient

as the night speaking through the skin
of the storm as they prostrate to deflect impact.

Hear the singsong of djinns sailing
along with the shifting dunes:

daughters of the earth, sons of women…
we are legion, warden of this geography…

The sandstorm reclines, leaving a heap
of history in it's wake —

an unlanguaged specimen of ruins.
You could see trinkets

& empty containers
that may have carried water

or vodka, bones of people
and photographs. Near the oasis,

a skull props, the void of it's socket
peers as if trying to say something,

as if trying to warn them or send a telegram
to his waiting family back home.

Image: black-and-white photo of Pèlúmi Sàlàkọ́ leaning against a wall. He looks into the camera with a half smile.

Pèlúmi Sàlàkọ́ writes from North Central, Nigeria where he presently studies for a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Studies. His writings have appeared or are forthcoming in Jacarpress, Ngiga Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, Pallette Poetry, Agbowo, Down River Road, Memento: An Anthology of Contemporary Nigerian Poetry, and elsewhere. He tweets @Salakobabaa