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Captive No More part VIII
Tanto, my grandfather’s dog,
shook the rain off his furs
as vigorously as he could
being a dog who hated water
and always tried to escape
whenever Iya, my great grandma
made any move whatsoever
to give him his weekly scrub.
He could easily tell it was his bath time
as soon as grandma brought out a large pot
filled to the brim with water
together with a sponge and black soap
placing the bathing things
Orò Ilé
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Orò Ilé
Medium: terracotta
Date: 2010
PEACE, LOVE AND HAPPINESS
PEACE, LOVE AND HAPPINESS
Egbé lifted me up and away,
down the tunnels of clouds
and we alighted inside the ground
a million years and a thousand days
below the level of my house.
“Browse,” Àjà said, “read the entries.
ILẸ̀ Ọ̀GẸ́RẸ́ AFỌKỌ́ YẸRÍ
The idea of ILẸ̀ Ọ̀GẸ́RẸ́ AFỌKỌ́ YẸRÍ must be difficult for those who interpret reality from the binary western tradition of male/female, living/dead, organic/synthetic, plant/animal, tall/short, high/low, liquid/solid, left/right and right/wrong or past/present.
MEANINGLESS WORD
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.
Do not panic.
In the face of challenges
Do not panic.
Never panic when the situation is dire.
However bad your circumstances are
Do not panic.
Things will get better
But only when you don’t panic.
