Love has been like sweeping
It’s my own pieces scattered
which I collect as I walk around
without giving up on her!
Sometimes stepping over myself
breaking myself while getting stabbed
By my own fragments on the ground
leaving behind the crimson marks
But I feel I should not give up because
I… Love… Her!
I keep doing the chores,
Yes! I mean providing for her
Only for another gust to come and
Scatter me all over in wider area
Than before in more crumbles than ever
But still I keep walking in the circles
Of agony because I can’t give up on her!
I keep sweeping around collecting me
Until the ground under my feet is no longer dry
No longer dead, no longer it is colorless
I remain just a mere fragment
Of the great nothingness as She in the end
marries my own brother
But I… can’t… Give up on her!
—
Read – Love’s Unfeeling Room – A Poem by Laurent Bwesigye, Uganda
Abdullatif Khalid (Latif the Sacred Poet) is a male Ugandan and a passionate award-winning poet. He is also an educator, writer, word crosser, scriptwriter, essayist, content creator, orator, mentor, public speaker, creative writing coach, and a word-spoken artist. His poems have been featured in several poetry publications, anthologies, journals, and magazines, such as the Best New African Poets 2022 Anthology, Writing A Woman Anthology: poetry and visual art vol. 3—an anthology by Asian and African writers and artists, Voice from My Roots – a poetry collection by Dove Eye Poetry, The Writers Space Africa, July 2023 magazine, and the Best New African Poets 2023 Anthology, among others.
Abdullatif has won several awards, both national and international, around the world. These include the students’ anti-corruption challenge 2023 in the poetry genre for universities and tertiary institutions in his country, Uganda. He also emerged as the second runner-up for the African University Students’ Poetry Competition 2023, which was organised by the African University Students’ platform. Also, he won the African Make Me Visible Challenge 2023 for motivation for young visionaries, won the Flash Poetry Contest 2024 organised by Writers Space Africa, and also received an honorary mention for his outstanding performance at the Kampala people’s SDGS festival 2023, which was organised by Uganda’s office of the prime minister.
Abdullatif has also performed on different national and international occasions and has left his audience amazed with his creative skills. For example, he performed at the Kampala SDS Festival 2023 (Uganda), the Regional Peace Festival 2023 (Uganda), the Pan Africanist Conference 2023, PAC (Ghana), and The East African Tax Justice Debate 2023 (Uganda), etc. He is currently pursuing a bachelor of arts with education in English and literature at Mountains of the Moon University.
I do love this poem for the repetitive phrases in it meant for emphasis and emotional drain.
Sweeping around collecting me….this statement destroyed my emotional attachment to the poem in the earlier lines…and there is some bit of a grammatical mishap which even poetic license itself can’t rectify in the last verse…otherwise nice piece overall..I would also like to feature my poems here but I don’t know how I can get the chance