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the poem in which i try not to accept my name

poem by Salim Yakubu Akko


whenever i hear my name

i squeeze my collar

trying to vomit the milk

i sucked from mother's breast


my hands shiver &

cry in pain

whenever i try writing

my name


i say it loudly

it is not my name

the name mother gave me

does not resemble death


but i am me

fed with wreck

sister, raped

corruption, my countrymen's cake



---

Salim Yakubu Akko is a World Voices Magazine’s Nigerian correspondent, Guest Contributor at Applied Worldwide, a poet and short story writer from the great city of Gombe state. He has been published/forthcoming in reputable newspapers, national and international journals and literary magazines, including the Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Trouvaille Review, Carolina Arts Muse, ILA Magazine, Ice Lolly Review, Brittle Paper, Amulet Poetry Magazine, Arts Lounge, Imspired Magazine, Fevers of the Mind Magazine, African Fingers, Nnoko Stories, World Voices Magazine, Spill Words Press, Upwrite Magazine, Applied Worldwide, Lumiere Review, The Pine Cone Review, The Piker Press, Afreecan Read, Teen Lit Journal, My Woven Poetry, OneBlackBoyLikeThat Review, Giallo Literary Magazine, Scratch Poetry Magazine, Literary Yard, Parrot Box, Calabar Poetry Magazine, Daily Trust Newspaper, The Nation News Nigeria, Blueprint Newspaper, The Guardian Newspaper, Independent Nigeria, Nigerian Tribune Newspaper, Opinion Nigeria, My Nigeria, African Fingers, The Campus Watch, Today Post Nigeria, People’s Daily Newspaper and elsewhere. He has been published in national and international literary anthologies like Love Nniwanti, Flow of Love published by Dr. Durga Patva, and the 2020 Lekki Massacre and so forth. He has also been shortlisted for the 2021 Bill Ward Prize for Emerging Writers; 2021 GSSS Gombe delegate for the annual Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Secondary Schools Festival (2021 HIASFEST); participated in the 2020 Jewel Writing Workshop and the 2021 Jewel Peace Project. Akko is a member of Gombe Jewel Writers’ Association, Creative Club Gombe state University and Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation.

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