IN MY COUNTRY, WE GIVE NAMES TO EVERYTHING THAT IS LOST
This home we use our experimental mouths to call
“a home” / is not in any argument close to a home;
if not, why do I swallow myself before I can
pronounce “a home”?
I believe “home” is a place of serenity & security
& a place the body takes the pill of rest,
unbothered.
Our settlement is lost, so, we gave it a name—
that we may remember we had a place we called “home”.
My Mother might have a better
understanding of what my hand is scribbling.
I might stammer if I am questioned of my writings!
We are lost to the hands of our leaders at the
time the moon was shot off by a false campaign;
like a bursted balloon in the feast of a sunny & blunt grass; a dead candle at the spray of wind—
we are lost to the language & differences that shattered
us— into tiny particles—
lost to the war that beckons the trees, the flowers
& other green items in the garden that leads to
the mouths of our house.
Give me your ears! I need to whisper a secrete to
you before my body becomes a lost item: /
“Oh, my friend! I hope you remember those
innocent girls wrapped away at day light in the
naked eyes of our country, / we gave them a name;
“chi-bok Girls”.
Do you remember when a huge amount was
claimed lost; swallowed by monkeys like
Bananas? / We gave them a name; “poli-thieves”.
You remember the time we lost our votes to
sufferness and poverty, / we gave it a name;
“poli-tricks”.
You remember when our people became lost to the
hands of cattle rearers— / did we not give them a name?
“Herdsmen!”
We lost our peace and health to the hands of a
name from overseas, “corona virus”.
We lost our stomach to hunger and we name it
“poverty”.
Before I go find my lost self, this poem is a lost writing finding a home.”
ARIYO AHMAD is a Nigerian poet who blends his thoughts into paper with his ever-flowing pen, whose inspiration is tapped from his beloved mother, and his late father.
He graciously has his poem published and forthcoming in Kalahari review, Ninsha Art, Nnoko stories, Ebo Quills, African Writers magazine, UpNigeria, Mixed magazine, Olney magazine, Madness Muse Press, Farrago Magazine, Words and Whispers Journal, Kalonopia Collective, Voice lux Journal, Clay Literary, Nymphs magazine, amongst others.
He is a favorite of Khalil Gibran and tweets from @ahmad_akanni.
