Sacraments of Prayer by Fadairo Tesleem

Fadairo Tesleem is a young Nigerian poet that writes from Ilorin, Kwara state. He is a teacher, a poetry coach, and a literary critic. Tesleem is a final-year student at the Kamal School of Arabic & Islamic Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State. He is a member of Hill-top Creative Art Foundation, Kwara State branch.

Fadairo asks, in what perhaps is the penultimate line in the corpus of grief poems among Nigerian poets today, “who says grief cannot be seen or touched?” He is mourning a friend, as well as a mother, a grandfather, and even Nigeria. In Sacraments of Prayer, Fadairo has imbibed his praying practice as a Muslim in an attempt to navigate loss. This is one poignant gazelle. Yet, it is this poignancy that makes the poems come alive with the heartthrobs of the poet.