Miracle Markets
Fatihah Quadri Eniola
i. Oja Aje
Sky tightens its hands as if to strangle the moon. Something cries in the air. At night, the dead return to sell their songs. Burdened with the suffering of all that is empty, they call for us in our sleep, and then in return, we snore, tipsy with the celestial taste of unconsciousness, we reply in the slumber of life.
ii. Market is synonym to silence at night
In Aleshinloye, the stocks surrender to the night breeze, closed stores in the company of rebellious mice. Whatever feet swept the dust is missed by the stillness of the dust. A tiny rat devours the crumb left by a bread seller. A watchman holds to his chest a beer.
iii. Mapo
A girl from Beere hides her history from the morning light, music leaks from the eye of passing cars and Oderinlo stands still, looking into the question of the sky, staring back at the junction of memory. Few minutes away from the breeze, Ogunmola stands too, carrying the past in his hand. If you could listen to the voice of all that is motionless, you would hear his weary incantations of war. His statue covered by the ancient garment of dust. In Oyo Atiba, what kills a warrior gives his statue eternity.
iv. Bodija
I bargain the bones of a young laborer begging to carry my sorrow on his head. In Bodija, the world is cheap, a child, whole and able, could be bought with a coin. The roads sloppy and truthful. Water trapped in the center of the sand, a man slips into the pity of a mango seller.
v. Jungle Justice
A hungry bird tastes rice from a bowl and loses its license to life. In Oja Oba, stone is the immediate law of life. A tire burning with fire marks the end of a man whose hand is caught in the heart of another man. A man steals bread and awakens the anger of the world. The market children learn with fire.
vi. Oyo Atiba
In this city, there is business between dye and water, the water makes an offer, the dye paraphrases the world into colors. Cotton weaved into lace is an economy for beauty. A woman dips a cloth into the essence and brings out a smile. The signboard says “Only beauty will mend all your sufferings."
i. Oja Aje
Sky tightens its hands as if to strangle the moon. Something cries in the air. At night, the dead return to sell their songs. Burdened with the suffering of all that is empty, they call for us in our sleep, and then in return, we snore, tipsy with the celestial taste of unconsciousness, we reply in the slumber of life.
ii. Market is synonym to silence at night
In Aleshinloye, the stocks surrender to the night breeze, closed stores in the company of rebellious mice. Whatever feet swept the dust is missed by the stillness of the dust. A tiny rat devours the crumb left by a bread seller. A watchman holds to his chest a beer.
iii. Mapo
A girl from Beere hides her history from the morning light, music leaks from the eye of passing cars and Oderinlo stands still, looking into the question of the sky, staring back at the junction of memory. Few minutes away from the breeze, Ogunmola stands too, carrying the past in his hand. If you could listen to the voice of all that is motionless, you would hear his weary incantations of war. His statue covered by the ancient garment of dust. In Oyo Atiba, what kills a warrior gives his statue eternity.
iv. Bodija
I bargain the bones of a young laborer begging to carry my sorrow on his head. In Bodija, the world is cheap, a child, whole and able, could be bought with a coin. The roads sloppy and truthful. Water trapped in the center of the sand, a man slips into the pity of a mango seller.
v. Jungle Justice
A hungry bird tastes rice from a bowl and loses its license to life. In Oja Oba, stone is the immediate law of life. A tire burning with fire marks the end of a man whose hand is caught in the heart of another man. A man steals bread and awakens the anger of the world. The market children learn with fire.
vi. Oyo Atiba
In this city, there is business between dye and water, the water makes an offer, the dye paraphrases the world into colors. Cotton weaved into lace is an economy for beauty. A woman dips a cloth into the essence and brings out a smile. The signboard says “Only beauty will mend all your sufferings."
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Born on a Friday in December, Fatihah Quadri Eniola is a Nigerian poet whose work has been featured in Torch Literary Arts, Blue Marble Review, Agbowo, The West Trade Review, The Shore Poetry, and elsewhere. She is gathering experience in Law in the University of Ibadan. She stays at @FatihahQuadri
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