Published September 1, 2021
by Nurudeen Ibrahim
(Ogun State, Nigeria)
You old wrinkle-faced unruly demon.
Sitting busily and working in the hearts of men.
Spinning and weaving with black cottons.
Mopping away every righteousness in the hearts of men.
You turn a blossoming house of coral beads
To one full of black slimy stones.
You turn a barn full of giant yams
To one stocked with knives and spikes
With which you enjoin folks to impale their kinsmens' skulls
In the stillness and under the cover of the night.
Vultures have camped on treetops
While fetish huts are left in ruins
Emptied of calabashes of sacrifices and gourds of frothing palmwine.
Chief priest drags himself lazily to the grove
To appease the ancestors
To restore the lost love back to the land.
But you old wrinkle-faced unruly demon
Has gone under the cloak of darkness
To set the grove ablaze.
Biography
The writer's name is Nurudeen Ibrahim. He is a 20 years old undergraduate currently studying law at the University of Lagos. He is an avid reader and writer who has a penchant for writing poems, plays, and prose. Two of his poems titled, "The Hot Chase" (a Limerick) and "She bade me to write" have been published on BetterThanStarbucks poetry journal.
Previously published in Nigeria Poetry Magazine:
"Break-in-Transmission" by Osuluku Woyengideigha Favour
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