by Gbolahan Badmus Sinval Carvalho — Lagos, May 2022 You considered death as an antidote to hiding, but your silly friends proposed life instead. They carry you on the back of the city, past streets bent like clenched fists — ready to strike or extend a handshake, to a lounge seated by the Atlantic. Through the clouds of shisha and cigarette smoke, the sea unfurls in waves, swaying to the wind. Your body cannot match the fluidity of water. You ferry away their pleas to mingle