A wonderful gift
Afolabi Damilare’s portrait of Moyo Okediji.
Thanks for this wonderful gift, Afolabi
Interested in some of my published works?
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Afolabi Damilare’s portrait of Moyo Okediji.
Thanks for this wonderful gift, Afolabi
NAME YOUR TEACHER
Who taught you
that you must breathe?
Who taught you
that you must eat?
that you must crawl?
that you must walk?
that you must talk?
that you must listen?
Who taught you
that your culture is inferior?
Law of diminishing returns
Cellphone Conversation
(After Wole Soyinka’s “Telephone Conversation”)
My phone rang, I recognized the number
and picked it up.
“Hey, babe,” I said,
“What’s going on?”
She started laughing,
and it seemed she wanted to talk,
but just couldn’t control herself.
I wanted to know
what was so funny. Finally,
she managed to stop laughing.
This is one of the paintings I just discovered in my garage.
The painting celebrates Robert Hayden’s poem, “Middle Passage.”
It is a really long poem.
The painting focuses on this excerpt:
“That Crew and Captain lusted with the comeliest
of the savage girls kept naked in the cabins;
that there was one they called The Guinea Rose
and they cast lots and fought to lie with her: ”
The character across the floor of the ship being whipped to consent is the lady called Guinea Rose in the poem.
AMERICANA AT OKADA PARK
“You fine o. You wan marry Okada?”
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, nau. Mek Americana marry Okada.”
“What?”
“Lekki marry Ajegunle o, Americana marry musician…”
“Don’t understand you.”
Hey, world out there
I hunker down here
and hail you, dear friend,
for we now live in the world
of virtual friends
but you can’t hug anymore.
We live in a new world.