after Safia Elhillo

Boys who dance
around plastic chairs
in front of the barbers’ shops
to win a free haircut.

Boys who gaze at the moon
& fabricate a story
about the man who left his mother &
turned into a Moonman.

Boys who love their mothers and
run after cows on Ogunleye Street.

When ice cream melts and slings down the arm,
the boys lick their arms. Corn boys. Yam boys.
Boys who never joke with food.

Boys who show us new shoes their father got them.
Joyous boys, laughing like the sea.
Boys who call me friend.
Boys who buy me sweet, goodie-goodie.

Quadri, Olúṣhọlá, Adams, Ògúnkọ̀yà, Saheed Apárí, Pẹ́ńkà,
Adémọ́lá, Oluwatosin, Mido, Ṣẹ́gun, Ọládèjì,
Káyọ̀dé Kareem, Adéwùsì Ṣèyí, Bùkọ́lá, Victor Ọlátúnjí, Olúṣhọlá

Dámilọ́lá, James, Tọ́lá, Dáramọ́lá, Taofeek, Ibrahim

Boys puzzled by god’s grace.
Boys who open their eyes during prayers.

Boys in love with the same girls.
Boys fighting over girls.
Boys without flowers, boys with flowers.
Boys who love boys
Boys who love boys who love boys
Boys who hide. Boys who seek.
Boys jumping thin lines of life playing sùwé.
Snake and Ladder boys.
Boys watching their father’s fathers play draught.
Pàrágà boys. Boys who like the smell of cigarette
but swear they’ll never smoke.
Boys who fill ground chalk in rolled paper &
puff. Boys in a kitchen filled with smoke.
Boys who carry scars from playgrounds.
Boys who carry scars their fathers give them.

Boys who don’t listen. Boys who listen.
Boys who revolt. Boys who leave home.

Boys who will never be absent like their fathers
Boys who watch their fathers at bars down the street
Boys who search for their fathers in the dark.
Hungry boys. Dreamy boys. Boys who teach boys how to wank.
Boys kissed by older women. Boys kissed by young women.
Boys the hope of a chameleon—

always changing, always changing.
Saturday boys dancing to Ebenezer Obey. Tom and Jerry boys
Saturday Special on BCOS. World Wide Wrestling with Shaun Michaels.
Tínko-tínko boys. Boys who love bright colors.
I wear yellow & you wear sky blue.
Little stars dotting the sky. Noisy boys.
Boys who kiss boys who kiss girls.
Boys who love God and go to church in their best shoes.
Homeboys. Street boys.
Boys who leave home for school one morning,
Their corrupted bodies litter a small farm days after.