Portrait of Moyo Okediji
Artist: Pelumi Ponmile
Title: Portrait of Moyo Okediji
Medium: Collage
Date: 2018
Special gratitude to Mr. Ponmile for this invaluable gift. I love you.
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Artist: Pelumi Ponmile
Title: Portrait of Moyo Okediji
Medium: Collage
Date: 2018
Special gratitude to Mr. Ponmile for this invaluable gift. I love you.
Captive No More (III)
7.
Music is the language of tragedy,
and dance, the vocabulary of trauma.
Silence, the death of feelings,
marks the beginning of madness.
After my great grandmother in vain
yelled the name of her son, Akin,
several times, and got no response,
she stepped outside and scanned
where he was playing,
and yelled his name again,
when she did not see him there
her stomach sank
because down in the pit of her womb
she knew he was gone.
Olodumare laughed when the Nigerian contingents
Stood up to present their case
before the throne of the Most High.
Olodumare said, “Active and passive
are equal and opposite
to effect the law of balance.
In the beginning
I created the most talented people
In a landscape mischievously named Nigeria.
THE ORANGE SELLER
This is my fruit
eat it while ripe.
The harvest season yields
oranges and apples that you
must first taste
with your naked eye
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: The Orange Seller
As the Chinese launches successfully the second wave of the colonization of Africa, after learning from the techniques of divide and conquer that Europe used for the first wave of conquering the continent, it became necessary for me to do this painting.
I also want to refer to the poem I wrote a couple of months ago, titled, “My Teacher Taught Me Nonsense.”
When I was a kid between the ages of three to ten, my friends and I were fond of watching Lọ́baníkà, an egúngún masquerade that performed regularly once a year in my neighborhood at Iremo in Ile Ife. Lobanika’s annual act was the highlight of the entire community, and we always waited with joy for the week when Lobanika performed to the delight of all and sundry
You Are Our Sunshine
If your skin is dark, we praise you as Adúmáradán.
If your skin is light, we hail you as Apọ́nbéporẹ́.
If you are thin, we salute you as Ọ̀pẹ́lẹ́ńgẹ́.