Spiritual Odyssey by Tukur Ridwan

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: Spiritual Odyssey. Smaller text reads: Discussing disability in fairy tales and folklore.

I'm sorry, I left my body here with you
With no words to hear, no touch to feel
No jokes to laugh at. Outside these layers
Of my presence, this wilderness beckons--
Dark and misty, reeking of lurking entities
Pushing and pulling me with their telepathy
To channel my curiosity for mysteries.
Worse, they have no name for me to register.
Every voice within this forest
Has me veering here and there
Looking around for answers
To the questions in my head. Even if
I get an answer, I cannot tell from whom.
Wasteful could a voice be without a name
Like a dream without an interpreter. So,
I'll find a name for each like semantics.
Now that I'm back with you with the eyes
Of my soul open to the complexion
Of your mood, could you remind me
Of the last thing you said, that threw me
Into this dark subconscious pit,
Into this trance that pitched me against
My alter ego? This is how I monologue
Without a word to animate my tongue,
But for these words, this poetry outliving
My silence. Could you jolt me back to life
Again, when I'm lost beside you, my shadow?

---

About the author:
Tukur Ridwan (He/Him) writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Shortlisted in the Bridgitte James Poetry Competition (2025) and the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (2020), his works also appear in Afrocritik, Kelp Journal, ArtisansQuill, The African Writers Magazine, Kalahari Review, Cordite Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He won the Brigitte Poirson Monthly Poetry Contest (March 2018), authored A Boy's Tears on Earth's Tongue (Authorpedia, 2019), and The Forgiveness Series (Ghost City Press, 2022). He loves black tea, sometimes coffee. Twitter/IG @Oreal2kur.