Sango-Ota as a Microcosm of Nigeria's Buffoonery
Flourish Joshua
A canopy of odours envelops the city,
& everything with a body begs for a bath.
The air smells of hustle, tired screams, sweat
pores & mouths that retire from reciting the
Lord's prayer. & if you lend your ears enough,
everything with a name has something to say.
Lizards posing on billboards, affirming the
epilepsy of the city in countless nods. There,
two roosters fight [over a hen], like what lovers
do for whom their heart beats. & everything
has somewhere to go, even somewhere. Two
men with worn shoes hassle for a spot in
a taxi. A trader carts her wares into the traffic,
begs for a buyer or two to call the day blessed.
A boy with an embargo twice the size of his
father's trouble, pleads for a hand. In the distance,
a man tries to lodge a tickle in the ribcage of
a groundnut seller, but each attempt stinks
of adultery. A handful of women whose marriages
are improper fractions, tabernacle in strategic
places, welding their staff of bread with hands
that know nothing of miracles. Unlike the trouser
of boys in this city, the price of goods do not
sag. Over a tin of rice, small arguments
soon build, like the muscles I promised my lover.
Nearby, a man's pockets leak, & poverty spills.
& everything with a face wears make-up, awaiting
the arrival of rain from its long vacation.
I do not hear what the boys in the distance mutter,
as lorries, the chairmen of the roads, as my father
puts it, sing for careless pedestrians. Beggars
assemble by the rainbow of their teeth,
& everything with a heart faiths in god—but
tonight, beds will lie empty. Tears will climb
to God, but He will not move a finger. Tonight,
hungry wives will curse the day love happened
to them; for their lovers’ trap will catch nothing
for a game. Couples will have threesomes with
grudge. Children, growing so fat eating hunger,
the city, failing & falling & falling & failing--
A canopy of odours envelops the city,
& everything with a body begs for a bath.
The air smells of hustle, tired screams, sweat
pores & mouths that retire from reciting the
Lord's prayer. & if you lend your ears enough,
everything with a name has something to say.
Lizards posing on billboards, affirming the
epilepsy of the city in countless nods. There,
two roosters fight [over a hen], like what lovers
do for whom their heart beats. & everything
has somewhere to go, even somewhere. Two
men with worn shoes hassle for a spot in
a taxi. A trader carts her wares into the traffic,
begs for a buyer or two to call the day blessed.
A boy with an embargo twice the size of his
father's trouble, pleads for a hand. In the distance,
a man tries to lodge a tickle in the ribcage of
a groundnut seller, but each attempt stinks
of adultery. A handful of women whose marriages
are improper fractions, tabernacle in strategic
places, welding their staff of bread with hands
that know nothing of miracles. Unlike the trouser
of boys in this city, the price of goods do not
sag. Over a tin of rice, small arguments
soon build, like the muscles I promised my lover.
Nearby, a man's pockets leak, & poverty spills.
& everything with a face wears make-up, awaiting
the arrival of rain from its long vacation.
I do not hear what the boys in the distance mutter,
as lorries, the chairmen of the roads, as my father
puts it, sing for careless pedestrians. Beggars
assemble by the rainbow of their teeth,
& everything with a heart faiths in god—but
tonight, beds will lie empty. Tears will climb
to God, but He will not move a finger. Tonight,
hungry wives will curse the day love happened
to them; for their lovers’ trap will catch nothing
for a game. Couples will have threesomes with
grudge. Children, growing so fat eating hunger,
the city, failing & falling & falling & failing--
Flourish Joshua is a Nigerian [spoken word] poet, writer, linguist, and editor. His works have appeared—or forthcoming—in Palette Poetry, the Shore Poetry, Isele Magazine, Indian Review, Pepper Coast Lit, Lumiere Review, miniskirt magazine, Agbowó, Olongo Africa, Poetry Column-NND, Magma Poetry, and elsewhere. He is a member of the Frontiers Collective.
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