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LITANY OF NIGHTMARES
In the litany of nightmares
comes the price of living inside a lie
I live in a country where
fear sucks breath from the mouth
of broken people and make them
stay in shadows of silence.
The desire they seek
is found on bodies that look like theirs
These bodies are nothing but a sinking ship
trapped at a sealane
between desire and violence
drowning in jackets of fear-of killings-of corpses
These bodies are sons and daughters of Christ
squashed on walls like bugs
bleeding: fresh,wet,and dead
like an open sore
damned with bad memories
of collective grief of lips who say yes
to bodies that look like theirs
Over here, these bodies are broken records caged in fear
but on their lips, are tongues of men
hiding in the darkness of nightfall
amidst feelings of being smothered by invisible hands.
About the Author
ÓKÓLÍ STEPHEN NÓNSÓ is a poet and an essayist from Nigeria. He is the winner of 2014 SOASA AIFCE creative writing contest in poetry. He believes in the power of pen and the positive difference it can make in our world. His poems have appeared in Tuck Magazine, Praxis Magazine, Adelaide Literary Magazine (New York), the best of Africa, and elsewhere. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria. His poems come from the heart and a desire to share words of joy and happiness. He believes that poetry can be used as a tool to solving societal ills.
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