Jetlagged.
Jetlagged.
From Heathrow Airpot to Austin Airport.
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Jetlagged.
From Heathrow Airpot to Austin Airport.
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
Do you know this song?
Ẹ fà á nírungbọn tu!
Ẹ fà á nírungbọn tu ò
Àgbàlagbà tí ò lówó lọ́wọ́
Tó ń dá irungbọ̀n sí
Ẹ fà á nírungbọn tu.
Captive No More
1
What you are reading is not poetry. It is not fiction. It is my true family history.
I am an ascendant from slavery. Yes.
It means I am a descendant of enslaved bodies. Yes.
Inside me, they locked iron collars,
leg fetters, and hand lockers. Yes.
Yes. Does it sound weird? Yes.
Slavery was real in Africa. Yes
Africa was the Ground Zero of slavery. Yes.
Life, when lived properly, is like playing in this giant park called Earth.
Find the thing you love to play with, and turn it into your work.
Then you can start playing.
I play with words, to enjoy the miracle of sound.
I play with images, to savor the magnificence of sight.
Playing is the best way to give thanks to the Creator of this giant park, and to fully enjoy the fruits and drinks that the park abundantly supplies.
Captive No More (Part VI)
17
Tanto, my grandfather’s dog
was busy harassing a lizard
when he caught the scent
of strange bodies.
He did not hear them
and he did not see them
but he could smell them
within fifty yards from him.
ÌMỌ́DÒYE
An Akodi Orisa Sculpture
Ile Ife, Nigeria
January 2019
Artist: Moyo Okediji