THORNS IN HER FLESH is an illustrated collection of poems by a black woman on love that is often like a rose flower; magnificent in its beauty but burdened with pricking thorns. It is also about the realities of family relationships and the socio-cultural, spiritual, economic, and political complexities of life in the African context.

In this collection of poetry, Eshe has thrown together poems of different themes; something akin to mixing lemon slices and balls of sugar in water. She hopes you, her dear reader, would be kind enough to stir and enjoy a tall glass of lemonade!

The book is split into four chapters: pricking companions, hyena dance, tangled knots, and liquid fire.

they say your thoughts
create your world
my third world was birthed
when the white storm
swept across our homesteads
do i get to recreate it
by simply thinking
of meadows and prairies
crystal jars
of milk and honey?

i think of thorns
pricking her beautiful skin
the midday sun
scorching her blooming day

i think of green fields and empty pots
flowing rivers and bare granaries
i think of beautiful jewels and plastic chains
naked servants and gucci clad masters
i think of flooded homes and empty dams
i think of the nail crowns
bleeding my people dry

~ eshe