for the women widowed by boko haram
i will tell you about the mother of three & the children she hasn’t lost, yet. keep the count, because what is lost will always find a way to remain lost. remember, she hasn’t lost them yet. one of the son’s mouths hasn’t been purged by the bullet to cough out blood. & the river is far away from where i stand to write this poem. let’s do a bit of retelling. i will start from the beginning. i promise no one will be lost. what is lost remains lost. the river. no one knows the aches of the mother like the river. but before the river, there was a home. just like Warsan said, no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. God, i hate quietness, said the loud cries from guns. i know you will be wondering about the husband. don’t worry yet, what is lost remains lost. instead, worry about the crystals in her sons’ eyes before they were clouded by fear. back to her husband. you would find her head-tie on his face. there was a downfall & the sons witnessed it, too. that is all i can tell you because what is lost remains lost. there are things you would come to learn about the mother that might seem wrong, but remember what is lost remains lost. instead, imagine you are standing by the riverbed & the mother is standing, too. & there is another woman beside her breastfeeding the child she would later throw into the river. don’t call it cruelty. remember, what is lost remains lost & a mother knows all about love & its burden.
Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi, Frontier I, is a Nigerian-Hausa poet, artist, and licensed Medical Laboratory Scientist from Bobi. She is the winner of the 2023 Derricotte/Eady Chapbook Prize and author of Cadaver of Red Roses (O, Miami Books) and Uncensored Snapshots, forthcoming with Chestnut Review in 2025.