Niger-delta life

by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi © 2006

 

Scent of burnt rubber. 80 jeep rims spinning.

Watch the oil-king display his might

To armed thugs marching to do his bidding.

His convoy screeches through the night.

 

Watch the oil-king display his might.

Grip your turgid kwashiorkor-stricken belly.

As his convoy screeches through the night

Catch a glimpse of luxury, built on your poverty.

 

Grip your turgid kwashiorkor-stricken belly.

Inhale eau-de-petro-dollar.

Catch a glimpse of luxury, built on your poverty-

Swear to stalk justice, drag her back to these borders.

 

Inhale eau-de-petro-dollar

As natural gas flares light the night sky.

Swear to stalk justice, drag her back to these borders-

Your life's misery will fly right by.

 

Natural gas flares light the night sky.

Your river's polluted by a new oil-spill.

Your life's misery will fly right by

If you can revive fish by the force of your will.

 

Your river polluted by a new oil-spill,

Your land blighted by explosions and flares.

If you can revive fish by the force of your will

You can bring an end to all despair.

 

Your land blighted by explosions and flares

A scent of burnt rubber, 80 jeep rims spinning

You can put an end to all despair;

To armed thugs marching to do their bidding.

END

A version of this poem appeared in "Dance the Guns to Silence:  100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa."

Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria.
A poet and writer, her work has appeared in the Massachusetts
Review, the Indiana Review, Wasafiri, and the anthology "Dance the Guns
to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa."  She is a biomedical
informatics researcher at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston
and an assistant professor of radiology at Harvard medical school.