17 Aug Sons of Achilles by Nabila Lovelace
If I think like the boy I take into me, then I know why
the blood appears. I am an apprentice in a city named
Kiss the Hands Who Kill
& Achilles is the father. His sons crawl out war
with fully loaded hands. I meet Achilles & the streetlights
hush. Bootleg Jordans grant a tongue for my speechless. Praise
the bootlegger.
//
Outside, the streetlights bend to lend
a shine. The block is hot & the boys
keep coming. I cannot catalogue a thing
he didn’t bore. Even the grass grows
his progeny.
//
Achilles & his sons. Achilles is his sons. Where his sons?
A sensual breeze.
A choking. The body
a smite.
//
Achilles, deathless man void moonshine, I cut
my veins & see his name. His sons: rampant, melodic. Sweet
negotiations. Love
the violence that births you. Hate
the chirp of the birds you eat.
Love me too, father. Love me.
About the Poet
Nabila Lovelace is the winner of the 2025 Just Buffalo Literary Center Poetry Fellowship. She will visit Buffalo this August for a writing residency and reading at the August 30 Silo City Reading Series event. About Lovelace’s work 2025 Fellowship judge Donika Kelly wrote:
“Lovelace’s poems sing of family with precision. This speaker keeps rather than disavows, and in the keeping must navigate the uneven terrain of given family. These poems mark the uneasy love that comes when we know and honor our whole selves while maintaining the connection with family that extends into the past and forward in time. I was most drawn to the finely wrought details, the intimate portraits, and the fullness of feeling that extends throughout this sample.”
Nabila Lovelace is a first-generation Queens-born poet, whose family is originally from Trinidad and Nigeria. The author of a debut collection of poems Sons of Achilles (YesYes Books, 2018), she lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she teaches at the University of Alabama.
Related Event
- On Saturday, August 30th at 7:30 p.m., Nabila Lovelace will join poet Donika Kelly as featured performers at a Just Buffalo Literary Center Silo City Reading Series event also featuring a musical performance by Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter and producer Charlie Martin, and an installation by interdisciplinary visual artist Nicole Chochrek.Silo City Reading Series events take place in Marine A grain elevator, behind Duende at Silo City, 85 Silo City Row. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the events begin at 7:30 p.m. Books by featured poets in the series will be available for purchase by Buffalo-based bookseller Fitz Books.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.