Everyone is a different bird,
plumage of diverse destinations
and crossover into that crux
that fuel our stars with the dust
of sacred conviction in our dreams.
On a Monday morning in Lagos,
black children flood this street
with bags of unfinished assignment,
and mouth steaming of iya bode’s hot
beans cake.
A black Volkswagen dances haphazardly
through the tongue of this road,
the driver tightly affirmed to the
frightened steering, tries to pet his angry
brake but it’s insensitive to the plea of drunkards.
Obinna a little chap stretching his feet
across the road gets hit by the vehicle,
his body rose into the fragrance of a
monody, his uniform fell like a dust
of an abandoned grave, silence blushes
on our face, reality peels our lips.
Now everyone mutters,
“What do we tell his mother”
Was this his childhood prophecy?
Odukoya Adeniyi is an undergraduate at the Obafemi Awolowo university. He was shortlisted for the 2017/18 Okigbo competition. His poems have appeared in different literary magazines. He loves his mum, dad, siblings and Balogun Idris.