FEB 1 2018
FEB 1 2018
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FEB 1 2018
MEANINGLESS WORD
“Food is not ready,” Iya Oyo informed me. “This is just a snack. I know you are hungry” In Yoruba she said “Fi eléyìí panu. Mo mọ̀ pé ebi ti ń pa ẹ́.”
She left me a bowl full of boiled groundnuts. I loved boiled groundnuts. It was still in the shell. “You can throw the shells here after cracking them.” In Yoruba , she said, “Pa èèpo ẹ̀pà ná à sínú abọ́ yìí.
ÌMỌ́DÒYE
An Akodi Orisa Sculpture
Ile Ife, Nigeria
January 2019
Artist: Moyo Okediji
When nobody supports you,
when everybody says no to you,
when people turn down your requests,
and you cannot get any grant
when they band together to oppose you,
and say your ideas are not practical
and they frown when they see you:
don’t despair;
these are signs that you are moving in the right direction;
keep placing one foot ahead of the other
continue to push ahead
For the first time,
many of us
are faced with the new reality
of being alone
even among a group of loved ones;
unloved ones; workmates;
colleagues; friends; foes;
The Akodi Orisa that I constructed in 2011, Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria. It is the model for the one in Ile Ife.
Plenty to see and ponder,
so very much to read and wonder
in a half-penny newspaper.
First, you must see the three Magi
Looking to find the Messiah
At the throne of Herod?
The Three Mega-Pharmacies
Looking for the Corona Virus
didn’t start their search
in the manger scenes of Bethlehem.