Brian Wolfe photo
By
Ogunkoya Samuel
The fabulous life of worshippers, infidels and living things
and after we washed our faces with morning prayers
-unfinished thoughts falling from our dreams-
mother reminded us that the scriptures are closed books,
the eldest, the one who death replaced papa with revolted last night
he said holy books are ongoing conversations,
they should evolve with mankind.
mother said those are vain words from godless men and then grazed his face.
our sisters wore silence
like long robes over their bodies,
they too have been taught
-to be quiet is to be a wise girl
a woman’s strength is in sealed lips
a woman’s mouth should hold more silence than words-
two nights ago,
our eldest called this barbaric,
mother struck him twice.
we ran into the mouth of the city,
picking relics off its teeth.
each ounce is worth half a meal
Ogunkoya Samuel
Ogunkoya Samuel is a Nigerian physiotherapist. His poems have been published and are forthcoming in Kalahari Review, AfricanWriter, Barking sycamores, Best New African Poets anthology 2017. He writes from ile-ife.
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