Replica

sister,

1. Maami
     never spoke of you
     except as an echo of
     a distant past.

2. She gaped, bewildered
     that your replica has
     passed through her
     legs again.

3.  She named me Omotunde,
     and calls me Remilekun
     —an alarm for pastime
     and a plea for joy.

4.  When you left,      
     Maami's eyes rained in
     torrents, her tears almost
     equaled the sea.

5.  It is the way of grief,      
     how loss shuts the windows
     in our tongues to turn us
     into the shadows of our past.

Rahma O. Jimoh is a creative writer and photog. A 2021 Hues Foundation scholar and a Pushcart Prize Nominee. She is a lover of sunsets and monuments and has been published or forthcoming in Isele Magazine, Blue Marble Review, Native Skin, Agbowo & others. She is an editor at Olumo Review.