Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - WORDS BIGGER THAN THE MOUTH

i found a copy of the essay at http://blueprintng.com/2012/05/face-me-i-book-you-writing-africas-agency-in-the-age-of-the-netizen-i/

ken

Face Me, I book you: Writing Africa's agency in the age of the Netizen (I)

By Pius Adesanmi

On 1/5/12 3:28 AM, Pius Adesanmi wrote:

WORDS BIGGER THAN THE MOUTH

 

(Poetic Variations on Matters of the Moment)

 

By Pius Adesanmi

 

To the accompaniment of Ebenezer Obey's "Esu ma se mi, omo elomi ni o se"

 

I

 

Orunmila, grant us words bigger than the mouth

Words tougher than the belly of a lizard

To confront Ofo - the rampaging farmer

- who plants corpses in our land

 

Let them rain, words bigger than the mouth

Words coarser than the insides of a gizzard

To repair the ill-luck chosen long ago

At the crossroads whence we became Lugard's pawn

 

Let them sprout, words bigger than the mouth

Let them fill the air like an angry blizzard

That our land may shed its crimson cargo

That Arun's raging flames may be doused

 

II

 

Orunmila, when our future undressed before you

Like a fowl's anus at the mercy of the evening breeze

You saw a Nigerian woman blow pepper into her child's eye

To remove a grain of sand

 

When our future undressed before you

Like corn pap disgraced in the assembly of banana leaves

You saw a Nigerian man scratch his son's back with thorns

To soothe a transient itch

 

When our future undressed before you

Like a child's mischief, not meant for his father's ears

You saw that the ants devouring my brother's spinach

Reside in the stalk of the leaves they destroy

 

III

 

Ah, Orunmila! You saw it all!

You spotted the lizard with the bellyache

Smiling among its prostrate kind;

You saw it all!

Saw the treacherous cracks in the wall

Toll gate for adventurous geckos

You saw it all!

Saw the rotten tooth

Basking in the company of resplendent molars

You saw it all!

Saw the rivers of blood

And the harvest of bones

You saw tragedies mammoth enough

To eclipse Ogunpa

 

IV

 

Your vision became Word

Your word became Flesh

Your flesh became Force

Your force became Eji Ogbe

And dwelt among us, screamed among us

 

But your Word entered through the right ear

Exited through the left

We shat in the farm

We pissed in the market

Yee, Orunmila!

We were the overzealous dog

Deaf to the hunter's whistle

We were the impertinent Sigidi

Who insisted on a splash in the stream

 

V

 

Where then I approach the crossroads

I, Adesanmi, poet-bearer of the sacrifice

To straighten paths bent

By a people's prodigal propensities

 

Reveal yourself, reveal yourself Orunmila

That dogs may end their wanton feast

Of kolanuts in Nigeria

 

Reveal yourself, reveal yourself

That Esu may pack his bag of tricks

Grant us reprieve

And do other people's children

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu