Best Poems Written by Eniola Ogunyanwo

Below are the all-time best Eniola Ogunyanwo poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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Details | Eniola Ogunyanwo Poem

Silent dark

shadows
”When you are not fed love on a silver spoon, you learn to lick it off knives.”  
—Lauren Eden, The Lioness Awakens

i was raised by the dark—  
mother taught me to swallow  
the unsaid. my tongue split  
on edges, learned to sip honey  
from blades.  

shadows don’t starve.  
they chew the unspoken:  
hiss of struck matches,  
salt of a wound,  
a fist clenching grief  
like a prayer.  

i wear my scars as cutlery.  
each night, i set the table  
with my father’s silence,  
my mother’s marrowless bones.  
i eat what the light abandons.  
i drink what it fears.  

Copyright © Eniola Ogunyanwo | Year Posted 2025


Details | Eniola Ogunyanwo Poem

She was once a girl

She Was Once a Girl

Long before you and I came to be, she was
that innocent girl you see.
Running barefoot around the house,
laughing as she played outdoor games with friends.
Not Mama, not Madam, not Yes, ma.
Just a girl.

Her dreams weren’t wrapped in wrappers,
but were as wide as the sky above.
She wanted to sing, to dance,
to listen to stories told by her grandma,
to see the world beyond the line where the ocean meets the sky.

Now you call her Mummy.
Now you only see the woman stirring pots,
hands rough from washing,
heart carrying countless heartbreaks.

But haven’t you noticed?
Her feet still tap,
her shoulders still remember the dance steps
when her favorite song comes on.

She’s still a girl just bigger.
Though life has buried her under names,
under duties, under expectations,
that girl is still there.
Living in fragments you might miss
unless you dare to look twice.

She’s still the one scared of being alone,
but
she hears when she pleads: Stay.

Ogunyanwo Eniola ( gt-unbridled)

Copyright © Eniola Ogunyanwo | Year Posted 2025

Details | Eniola Ogunyanwo Poem

Tonight

Tonight

Tonight, the road’s gone quiet.
The world sleeps, the night watch takes over.

My bed is warm, my fan hums just right.
The weather’s been cool lately.

I know this 
never again will we see this particular time frame,
a corridor that disappears with every step taken.

So I pause to take it all in 
in gratitude, in skepticism,
all these I see.

Oh, how fleeting our moments are.
To grow is to die,
and I do that daily.

Copyright © Eniola Ogunyanwo | Year Posted 2025

Details | Eniola Ogunyanwo Poem

Refusal

Here’s to the ones we’ll never see…
Your demise gets summarized into goodbyes and memories 
But its not as simple as that
Time could never encompass the essence of your being 
Words at its peak could never articulate you

Your bag-skin lay unmoving, rotting 
But out of it came a voice never to be heard 
Your eyes hosts no light now
Your smile gone, your uniqueness gone

And like I said… words could never do justice 
Same with how insurmountable this pain will be
And while i wait for our next meeting 
You’d be missed everyday
A vacancy never to be filled 

Copyright © Eniola Ogunyanwo | Year Posted 2026

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