Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Olaniyi Ololade Moses

Headlines

“HERDSMEN KILL 30 IN BENUE”

I’ve muted my radio

for holding horror news in her voice.

“20 FEARED DEAD IN BORNO”

I sold my Television

for showing me pictures

of burnt dreams in this country.

“ARMED MEN KILL 3O IN RIVER”

Every breaking news breaks us into threnodies,

Both home and farm is unsettled like storms.

War rages in my country — both home and farm

is unsettled like a turbulent river.

Today a boy will die — another dream will fade in the air,

Another future leader will become a fleeting shadow that perches

behind the wall. Another dirge will rise on the tongues of men.

We’re dying in my country, we’re breaking into forlorn pictures.

We’re dying in my country, fear grows in us like a tumor.

We’re dying in my country — the horror of news kills us every day.

Olaniyi Ololade Moses

Olaniyi Ololade Moses is a poet, writer and a fashion designer who hails and writes from Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria. He started writing poetry three years ago, and his poems have been published in magazines and anthologies including Tuck Magazine,

Parousia Magazine, Whykay Anthology and so on. Olaniyi was a recipient of a 2017 Black Pride Magazine Award for his contribution to the growth of poetry.

He is currently studying Mass Communication in Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin. He believes someday, his poems and other writings will be used as an instrument of change in Nigeria and the world at large.