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by Ọlálékan Hussein |
"This land is birthed in blood, trooping out from broken bodies." —Ariyo Ahmad
we were taught quickly that planting water in the mouth without gulping is another way to know a rugged soldier in a battleground.
all that exists in this realm is a badge bearing lachrymose information, & I dodge every call that carries my country code to avoid being a foreigner in my fatherland.
here, we were taught fearing God is a sin, & anyone that sins will become an augmentation of fire.
you're taught to duck your head, so your afro won't get trimmed by bomb that sees your blackness as a dark portent.
when a News pops up in our TV, I always feel my body swimming in a fjord of blood at the verge of perusing.
when you try to air out what your eyes filched last night, they muzzle you with bullets, & gobble you with hungry pyres waiting to betray your innocent body.
when my phone beeps twice like a metronome, two things war in my brain: It's either they have burnt down a soul in the famished eyes of local people,
or a vulnerable boy has seen death in the face, at the back of a cathedral when reporting his country to God.
a bird hovers on the stool of my window, then looks left & right like a purloiner planning burglary: "run away, for this poem won't sail you out of holocaust" it tweets.
***
OLALEKAN HUSSEIN (Nature) NGP VI is an emerging poet who writes from Lagos, Nigeria, where he studies in an Islamic institution, Darul Falah. at evenings, he teaches students Arabic knowledge. He writes on diverge subjects including Humanity, Nature, Love, Loss, Memories, what troubles his mind. A Best Of The Net Nominee with works published & forthcoming in: The Shallow Tales Review, Brittle Paper, Lumiere Review, Kalahari Review, Rigorous, Third Lane Mag, Aster Lit, Libretto, OneBlackBoy Review & amongst others.
Find him on:
Twitter @Waliullah_71
Instagram @olalekanhussein71