for Kunle Adepeju ii. Honour the dead beyond flickering candle light, beyond a minute silence, beyond the soft melodies of your dirge, beyond the thumps of your marching feet, beyond the dark shades, black wears, & the witty inscriptions, beyond the scented flowers placed by their graves, embalm their memories […]
For Kunle Adepeju (01-02-1971) i. Dear Countrymen, there is nothing stray about a bullet fired into the misty air to find solace in the soft flesh of unarmed citizens. There is nothing inadvertent when protectors of lives wear the garbs of hunters, cracking down on human games, silencing “demonic” voices […]
“Where do politicians go when they die?,” he asks with a teenage curiosity, locking eyes with his father’s. Son, their bodies & souls are raptured to heaven — they seat close to God, fellowship with His angels & the twenty four elders, listen to soft hymns, dance to heavenly […]
Let us pretend. Let us pretend that our leaders are palliating our suffering, that they are mollifying every sadness that grows in us. Let us pretend. Let us pretend that our stomachs aren’t empty, that the worms in our bellies aren’t feeding on our flesh, that cataract of […]
It’s almost a year now since that night, when darkness crawled in like an innocent child, when the giant city trembled, quaking the ground across the seven hills of Ìbàdàn— Bódìjà sang a dirge to the ears of all; the neighbourhood chorused the grief in response. At that point, stories […]
By: Bamijoko Favour I trees shed their leaves, a poignant reminder of time’s lonely passage; what was, is no more. II the patter of tiny feet transfigures into the body of a pulsing teenage girl playing hula hoop on a street in Gaza, noon benediction calls, and she […]
By – Onymous wish I was better reading the signs cause damn she takes my breath away so much that I loudly exclaim my lost for words. A part of me says I assume and do too much, other part be noticing your deeds and all your moves Put your […]
By: Nnamdi Ochi It never really goes silent It slips between the gaps, Seeps into the cracks But to occupy the space is unnatural The animals cry The insects chirp and buzz The lazy wind rushes loudly by The light announce themselves with cheers And those who stay awake like […]
By: Samuel Olowolayemo The seeds of our past choice lay barren, on marsh, like the infertile eggs of mother hen. We have turned round the seasons of the year, but they’ve refused to grow, we made the wrong choice. A new chance is bequeathed upon us. Let’s chart a […]
Be it far that I be enthralled to you Your love will I interchange for leaven As chicks despise the hunting raven Will I hate words that from your heart ensue The things I love about you are no more Gone with the spell cast on the eye of […]
