Sacraments of Prayer by Fadairo Tesleem

Fadairo asks in what, perhaps, is the penultimate line in the corpus of grief poems among Nigerian poets today—“who says grief cannot be seen or touched?” He is mourning a friend, as well as a mother, and a grandfather, and even Nigeria. In Sacraments of Prayer, Fadairo has imbibed the virtues of a praying Muslim in attempt to navigate loss, using poetry. This is one poignant gazelle. Yet, this poignancy is what makes the poems alive with the heartthrobs of the poet.