i am a body of water by Bisola Bada

Bisola Bada is a Nigerian writer based in Newcastle, England. She explores the intricacies of gender in her writing, and her poems advocate for the girl child. When she’s not busy at work or writing, she loves to volunteer at a local charity in Newcastle, and also hang out with friends.

You can say Bisola Bada mounts the rostrum in her gazelle i am a body of water with declarative feminism and femininity. She has a lot to say to men who think they can get away with everything just because they are men. Some poems are about self-affirmation, the feminine body, and womanhood; some are heartbreaking. But she has something to say—“ i am a body of water / & will always be here / ready for your twilight sun / to attempt being a stone / so that it can lose balance / on the horizon.” And you must hear her! After all, as the title of one of her poems chime, “this poem does not take orders.”