The Proposal
The Proposal
(To the colonial master)
Oga, will you marry me,
and take me home?
I can be your second
even third or fourth wife
You look so handsome
and I giggle
Dear Kicking Fetus
Dear Kicking Fetus
For Saidiya Hartman***
Why kick your mother
so hard, so relentless
right in the center
of her tender navel?
Is there something
you know about life,
about the impious ways
My Dear Child
My Dear Child
Before you were born—
if you raised your binoculars,
if you could peep
through the keyhole of life
Would you open the door
and walk right through?
Or would you run back
To My Unborn Child
To My Unborn Child Learn to listen Between the lines. Words are nothing but mesmerizing sounds The word “water”Is not wet.
HOW TO LOOK IN A MIRROR
HOW TO LOOK IN A MIRROR When you find a mirror you must first turn on the lightNot the light in the room But the light in your heart. Never look in the mirror With your eyes:
I’m a refugee
I’m a refugee
An exile, a stranger
In a gold residence.
Home died decades away.
Those who opened their door
To welcome my wandering legs
Point to me their tables
decked with wine and sweetbread.
Between the past and the future,
etween the past and the future,
The present is squeezed to death.
Stop allowing the junk from the past,
or the apprehension about the future,
to steal the pleasure of your now.
THE REAL ẸKÙN
I went to see the REAL ẸKÙN to pay my respects, soon after his coronation.
This is not imported. It was from the ancient
forests of Ile Ife.
Make more children.
Make more children.
Many, many, many, more children.
More and more and more.
Àmọ̀tẹ́kùn kids.
Let every Amotekun woman produce ten.
Let every Amotekun man make 50.
There is food in the land to feed them.
Ìbàdí Àrán (Duchess).
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Ìbàdí Àrán (Duchess).
Medium: silicon on paper
Date: 2020
Rites of Passage
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Rites of Passage
Medium: silicon on paper
Date: 2020
Two Friends and a Bird
Omidan (Damsel)
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Two Friends and a Bird
Medium: Terracotta
Date: 2010