If you are overpowered
by the weight of
this life
If everything here
aims at the throat
Then come take a seat
with me, for I, too,
am articulate in the
dialect of grief
Abduljalal Musa Aliyu is a school teacher and poet. He writes from Zaria, Nigeria. He has a chapbook, Encyclopaedia of Dolour (Chestnut Review, 2024). His work appears in Chestnut Review, Brittle Paper, Ninshar Arts, 3 of Cups anthology and elsewhere. He is the third prize winner of the inaugural Writing Ukraine Prize and PIN’s 2020 Poetically Written Prose contest. He rants on Twitter @AbduljalaalMusa.
Header photograph and artwork by Jordan Keller-Wilson
Vast 