The laziness of the knife
as it slices through beetroots and cauliflower;
how the blade, too, must become soft
to make love to a soft thing,
how lightweight the heavy burden of devotion.
The heat of the heart—mountainrock-place
of the hefty issues—quenching
the cold weather of logic. O how
the weight grows numb;
I lug like Sisyphus this burden
more bearer.
[A poem also exhibited as a multimedia piece designed by Su’ur Su’eddie Vershima Agema at The Optimist’s Incomplete exhibition and part of the Heritage Day, as part of the Benue Book and Arts Festival at the DH Lawrence Birthplace Museum, Eastwood, Nottingham on 12 September 2026]
ADESIYAN OLUWAPELUMI, TPC XI, is a medical student, poet, essayist & Poetry Editor of Fiery Scribe Review from Nigeria. Winner of the Gbemisola Adeoti Poetry Prize (2025), An Unserious Collective, Adroit Journal Summer Program, HUES Foundation & SprinNG Writers’ Fellow, he & his works are featured in The Republic, Electric Literature, Only Poems, 20.35 Africa, Isele Magazine, Poetry Sango-Ota, A Long House, Brittle Paper, Fantasy Magazine, Poet Lore, Tab Journal, Poetry Wales & elsewhere. His chapbook “Mouthful with Cinders” was selected by Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes for the APBF New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Box-set Series (Akashic Books, 2025).
