stop.
empty your heart of the leeching fear / anxiety
it’s siphoning the light from your sun
there is chaos swirling around /
unplug yourself from the news
else you find yourself puckered in swelling darkness
remember not to cram melancholy
like it is a verse seeking a home in your body
breathe in / breathe out
there’s a world within you
& it’s okay to recoil into that universe /
you’re not dwindling
***
Praise Osawaru is a Nigerian writer, (performance) poet, & wannabe entrepreneur studying at the University of Benin, Nigeria. His works have appeared in African Writer, Kreative Diadem, Ngiga Review, Perhappened Magazine, Praxis Magazine & elsewhere. He was longlisted for African Writers Award 2019 & shortlisted in the 2019 Kreative Diadem Creative Writing Contest. When he isn’t overworrying about life he’s reading or binge-watching. Say hello on Instagram/Twitter: @wordsmithpraise
***
image: Sheldon Birnie
Rejection Letters 