“Refuse” and “Vintage” — A Poem and a Photograph by Tukur Ridwan

"Refuse" and "Vintage," a poem and photograph by Tukur Ridwan.

refuse

like a refuse bag, a boy is refused by the doors

of his neighborhood for being a fairy.

he clouds himself in smoke to reach the heavens

from vain roaches. like fire to his martyrdom

he burns in self-pity, screaming with his mouth closed,

and his chest coagulated with life rules and issues

you think the eyes truly never lie, but not when

he’s told to man up. his silence and smiles lock away

faces whose eyes are question marks. he would fall

like torrents to torment earthlings with the curses

in his dying screams. he promises to return

in another boy's rebellious body.

Vintage 

"Sometimes, all we do is capture fleeting moments before they slip away from our memories. That's how we hold onto moments that could have belonged elsewhere."

Profile

Tukur Ridwan (He/Him) is a Nigerian author of three poetry chapbooks, poetry mentor at SprinNG Writing Fellowship, and the winner of Brigitte Poirson Monthly Poetry Prize (March 2018). Publications include Aké Review, Feral, Disabled Tales, Poetry Potion, Coalition Works, Stripes, Engendered, Afrocritik, and many more. His poems were shortlisted in the Collins Elesiro Poetry Contest (2019), the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (2020), the Bridgette James Poetry Competition (2025), and also featured in the "Eyes that Speak" Art Exhibition by Prince Saheed Adelakun in 2024. He loves black tea, sometimes coffee. X and IG @Oreal2kur