Excavations of the First Dynasty
Moyo Okediji
Title: Excavations of the First Dynasty
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
Interested in some of my published works?
Follow Me
Moyo Okediji
Title: Excavations of the First Dynasty
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
LOOKING BACK
I
Exile, however sweet,
for home makes the heart yearn.
Àjò kìí dùn
kónílé gbàgbé ilé.
I colored the Yoruba proverb above for emphasis.
Why?
Because everybody living in Nigeria is a hero.
It is often akin to being a kamikaze pilot in WWII.
They just survived the #EndSars uprising.
2020 has been an eventful year.
We will not itemize the list of the horrors of the year.
Can we, instead, highlight the blessings?
Rather than explore the sadness of the year, can we paint images that are sweet?
Can we find the joy hidden behind the sorrow?
Can we squeeze order out of the chaos?
TO MY GRANDDAUGHTER ON GRANDPAS DAY
I landed a fish last summer.
It begged me to catch and release.
I said I was hungry
It said better to hunger than kill
“We are all fishes”, it reminded me,
“angling in a lake of love.”
I saw the same fish this summer
We are getting close to the end of the architectural sculpture.
Wèrèpè má so mọ́.
Devil bean weed, stop producing seeds,
Èyí tó o so lésǐn,
The seeds you produced last season
Baba ẹnìkan ò ka.
Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists painting the outside fence at Ile Ife, Nigeria.