ÌLÚ LE: When Country Hard
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: ÌLÚ LE: When Country Hard
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021…
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Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: ÌLÚ LE: When Country Hard
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021…
See more
With Jelili Atiku’s sculpture of Mandela and wearing Luis Emilio Marin’s Esu figure in my office today, University of Texas at Austin.
My Nigerian friends are going to be so scared!!!!
If the road is bad
buy-a-Jeep-generation.
If the oil is crude
export them for refining
then import-them-for-distribution-generation
If the schools are bad
send-your-children-abroad-for-education-generation
If there is a food shortage
import-food-from-abroad-generation.
If there is no pipe-borne water
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.
NEW SALE
I have just sold this work titled “MESSENGER OF HOPE.”
It is a terracotta piece mounted on canvas.
It has an antique look to give it a timeless dimension, just as the element of hope that it defines.
I’m happy the work has found a home where it will be happy and loved.
THE MESSENGER OF HOPE
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.
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