DAYS OF YORE
Those days when I was much younger, I explored photography.
Here are some shots of Jummai, then a great model from Northern Nigeria, now a rising woman activist and politician.
The Yoruba say, “Àgbà wá búra….”
It means, “You, the elderly one, swear you once were not full of youthful exuberances.”
The death of
Abba Kyari is a major loss
for Nigeria.
Because he departed
so suddenly and unexpectedly,
eliminated by a killer so
vehemently and with matchless
dispatch, the victim most
Moyo Okediji
Title: Dem Belleful
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
48×36″
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
MAMA
Mother is a tree
with fruits, rooted in
Traditions of nurturing,
watered in the womb of affection
Her milk flows
down the hills of time
from one generation of love
to another recuperation of hope
The rainbow is smearing
pigments on my teeth
as if being colored
is a virtue;
All it does is keep the
cops from trusting me
when I cross
the street from innocence
to dark alleys
where they play hide
I
Request:
Now that Ibadan
is under fire,
is all lost?
What does Ifa say?
Response:
Ifá responds with Ọ̀sé Ọ̀yẹ̀ku.
In Ọ̀sẹ́ Ọ̀yẹ̀kú, Ifá traces the same passage