Olorunkemi Kareem Poems

I am tired.
Tired of folding my heart into smaller shapes
just so you'd find it easier to hold.
Tired of swallowing my pain
...

I wanted to be a prefect—
not for the applause,
not for the title pressed into fabric,
but because it felt like proof
...

They didn't bully me.
They dismantled me.

One word at a time.
...

I smile in rooms where I'm barely seen,
A whisper behind every louder scene.
The friend they remember when no one's around,
A voice they reach for when theirs makes no sound.
...

There were nights I sealed my heart like a tomb,
Burying every prayer beneath the rubble of doubt.
Still, You came—
soft as the dawn,
...

Your mouth finds that secret place on my neck
Where my pulse betrays every hidden want,
And in that moment,
I forget every name but yours.
...