Wednesday 4 September 2024

Letters to Mie 3


Dear Mie,


In this town 

In this place 

of clear skies and 

green fields lies a promise 

a pact we made

in the evening of our consummation

In this town 

In this place

of dusty side paths and dry taps lies a pledge 

a pact we made

in the heat of our passion 

In this town of slaves and slavers

lies the remains of a blood pact that bind us with hopes

to the adulation of a puppet show 

do not wait 

for the ressurection 

do not wait for the restoration


In this town 

In this place

of broken pledges lies a precision 

the threads of duty 

that bind us to the hopes of intellectual dreams

In this town 

In this place 

of beautiful promise

made in the heat of ignorance

In this town 

of roaming spirits 

and portly goblins

lie a promise of egg shells 

to be broken


do not ask

of our kisses below the altar 

do not ask 

of our manifestoes delivered 

in the shadow of a promise!


In this town 

In this place 

of multi billion tricycles 

and NO VACANCY signs 

lies a hammer to crush

packages of idealized manifestoes

and spill rejection into 

the eyes of stupefied reason

In this town 

of regulated dressing 

lies an antidote to the infatuation of our promise


do not come 

to seek the pleasures 

we once shared

do not hurry to spread 

your legs to the ruins of our vigour!


In this town 

In this place

of gates and rules 

and tick infested floors 

lies the grave of remembered pleasures 

of remembered pledges 

in this place of official amnesia lies the eternity 

of ill- used words.

Elegy to the unknown soldier


my valiant one

when you are summoned 

to the ancestral council 

look them straight in the eye 

tell them of the day

the Eke day in the dry season the market was full 

old women and batskins

young men, tales and lewd songs 

maidens, mothers and palm oil

ask the ancestors

don't you know war has come to us 

and now we fight without parley?


tell them

war came to us

in the heat of the dry season when the art of bow stringing had faded in the euphoria of mirrors and jaded beads 

war speared our maiden folk

and spattered the blood of their honour 

on the filthy khaki of your brigade 

your new age mates brimming with bloodlust 

like a sow in heat.


tell them

that war has ripped our innocence 

with savage yanks of blunt bayonets 

and we have learnt

the sweet taste of human flesh ,

that we have learnt to bury our living

within the footprints of black boots


tell them my valiant one 

we have learnt 

to devour our brothhers 

and the coffins are empty

the warriors that raped our lineage are strangers,

strangers in heaven.

O Night

 Night

0 night

consecrate me with the dews of your silence 

distil from the ripeness of your stillness 

incense for your altar.


O night

lay your leaden blanket gently 

on bare breast offsprings on my slab 

shroud the swish of the knife 

in your secure secrecy

from the reluctant gurgles distil a symphony 

to drown the owls' protest.


O night

stay with me awhile

while I gather the shells of semi-selves 

discarded in the mist of your coming.