CRISPY SATIRE (ISSUE 6)
slayer by Goodness Olanrewaju Ayoola
dawn is young
and daughter you must slay—
is it true that an arena of murder runs through your thighs
and men die daily?
do you kill boys too?
the ones who ride their fathers’ curseS around in quick rainbows
sinking stars
too hasty to eat the poison that killed their fathers…
do you kill boys too?
i see men light your story in the peak of harmattan
they say you are wild fire—
if not for incest you could have burned through your father
they say something else
that you twirl your waist
a town of bastards for milk from the testicles of dogs
they say something else
when all is not fun again
you are a market of mockery—a slay of shame…
Goodness Olanrewaju Ayoola is a poet and teacher of English. His poetry has appeared in poetry journals and anthologies. Few of his poems have garnered awards and translated into Assemese. He is currently an International Director of the World Union of Poets and was one of the judges for the 2016 Green Authors Prize (GAP) sponsored by Words Rhymes and Rhythms. He is the author of ‘Meditations’, a collection of poems. He has an NCE in English and Yoruba languages and a B.A (ed) in English.
WE DON’T DEBATE by Agbaakin O. Jeremiah,
suddenly, he will negotiate your dream,
speak in tongues of Adam Smith –
say something about global meltdown
as if the city has always been on the map,
with red lines or red tapes in the budget;
strangling capital dreams:
of standard macadam or stadia
good enough to host future Olympics.
they came to rock you
to the bed of democracy with campaign lullabies;
slip you into dreams too lofty
to lift your head from the pillow
like a bucket from a dark well;
armed with promises too desired
to not scorn debates.
in Africa, you don’t debate guts or odds
like a gambler trapped
in the maze of statistics:
only the weight of jingling coins by the gladiators,
who fight to seize the kingdom in your thumb.
is it not a miracle of memory?
how we walk out of that hell into haven
as Brexit; and mummify time
and skin the past off its serpentine skin
till the price of Tomato no longer stuns,
and the shyness of Naira on EBay
is a mere personality disorder that will pass,
you slide into home-made and carve out a new patriotism
on the sturdy rock of recession.
Agbaakin O. Jeremiah, a poet and campus Editor, reads law in the University of Ibadan. Agbaakin, a six-time finalist of Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest, won the maiden Ogidigbo Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for Dwarts Prize, as well as
His works are featured/forthcoming on Antartica Journal, Wagon Magazine, Tuck Magazine, Sentinel Quarterly, Kalahari Review, Praxis Magazine, African Writer, Sub-Saharan Magazine, BPPC (Loops of Hope) Anthology, Irawo Anthology, Niyi Osundare Anthology, Pulse Nigeria and elsewhere.