A POEM BY TESTIMONY ODEY

With Her Bloody Palms

i dip my white in my auntie’s blood,
a daily ritual that engulfs my soul.
it soaks in red - the color of the grief
that has taken my heart captive. & this
memory makes a thousand demons
cry out in the prison of my heart.
it flashes like grains of sand in my head -
my auntie slipping into a world
of people whose mortality has got nothing on them.
they say children don’t remember things too well
but I reckon it is a lie that can be melted
like an ice block under the fierce hot sun of the Sahara Desert.
i remember my auntie’s smile
laced with deep affection & hurt. & the
way she tightly gripped my dress & stained
my white with her bloody palms.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Testimony Odey, also known as Temidayo Testimony Omali Odey, is a Nigerian teen writer, poet, artist, and gender equality advocate. Her first book, Uloma was awarded 1st Runner-up of the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (Prose Category, 2021) and her second novel, Feathered won the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2022. Her short stories, articles and poems have appeared on anthologies, websites and magazines such as Brittle Paper; Salt & Citrus – Volume II, Issue I: ILLUSION; An Anthology of the June-July 2022 Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC): A Universe Where U = Me; Lily 2022 Kepressng Anthology: REBIRTH; Vine 2022 Kepressng Anthology: NOTES ON LOVE & OTHER STORIES; Kepressng Anthology Prize: OGU & OTHER STORIES; Voice of Agape (VOA) Teens Magazine; Tilted House Review; My Woven Poetry; Teen Lit Journal and Reedsy. Her short story won Bronze for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (2021) and her poem was a finalist at the 1st Intercontinental Poetry Anthology: Voice of Peace (Africa Edition) 2021. Her flash fiction story, “The Murderer’s Issue,” was longlisted for the ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Globe Soup Flash Fiction Contest. While, ‘YOUR FUTURE,’ her short horror story, was also added to the Short Horror Stories Podcast.