{"id":2258,"date":"2017-11-07T13:55:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T13:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/?p=2258"},"modified":"2017-11-07T13:55:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T13:55:37","slug":"the-cradle-i-issue-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/the-cradle-i-issue-8\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CRADLE I (ISSUE 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 1.7.8 -->\n<div class=\"quads-location quads-ad1\" id=\"quads-ad1\" style=\"float:none;margin:0px;\">\n\n <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.1.7.8 Content AdSense async --> \n\n<script async data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\">\nvar quads_screen_width = document.body.clientWidth;\nif ( quads_screen_width >= 1140 ) {\r\n\/* desktop monitors *\/\r\ndocument.write('<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" 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[]).push({});\r\n}<\/script>\n\n <!-- end WP QUADS --> \n\n\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>THE CRADLE I (ISSUE 8)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>TWO POEMS | Aire Joshua Omotayo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A VERSE FOR MY COUNTRY\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>our mother\u2019s womb was a page<br \/>\nin a night\u2019s cloak, where no deer got to spew its ink,<br \/>\nwithout seeking for headlights with torches<br \/>\nof broken languages scattered across its mouth.<\/p>\n<p>her womb was a church, where dirge gleamed<br \/>\nthe mouths of choirs, with psalms of divers tongues,<br \/>\nbeating the drums of ears with cymbals of confusion<br \/>\nbroken across facades for our feet to tread.<\/p>\n<p>her breasts were cities in our mouths,<br \/>\nwith the sky brewing black waters from the spring of nothingness<br \/>\nthe nipples pierced our tongues with burning streams<br \/>\nwetting every buds with dialects of ancient writings<br \/>\nsplattered across our walls like the mark of a beast,<br \/>\nmaking the buds of our tongues fight one another<br \/>\nwhile they confessed that we were just a mural on a war sheet.<\/p>\n<p>but the sheet was watered with the blood of our fathers,<br \/>\nmaking our name a smile on the wrinkles of pilgrims<br \/>\nand all we could do were to sleep in their veins<br \/>\nin the nights when the moon gave their lips a taste of light,<br \/>\nas we coursed through their bloodstreams in search of fire<br \/>\nto torch the weeds that sprout on our boundaries<\/p>\n<p>remember the night we were born by the bank of the Niger river<br \/>\nremember our mother\u2019s screams, as her womb gapped open<br \/>\nand whispered our name \u2013 Nigeria \u2013 to the ears of the wind<br \/>\nremember how the sun and moon stood still,<br \/>\nhow the stars held their twinkles in the palms of joy.<br \/>\nremember the blood she shed when her veins<br \/>\nclotted the pains into fortified territories<br \/>\nremember how the Niger river welcomed her,<br \/>\nwith the gift from Benue river, into the confluence of unity.<\/p>\n<p>we were kids walking like snails, we were vessels<br \/>\nin the hollowed corridors of marrows, engulfed into the pouch<br \/>\nof twilight breeze, while we walked our footpaths<br \/>\ninto the silence of the forest, painting the pages<br \/>\nof the trees with freedom, with the rustling leaves<br \/>\nand the chirping insects announcing our names to the world.<\/p>\n<p>but then, while we beat the drums of victory \u2013<br \/>\nwith their gurgling gong echoing our strength to the walls<br \/>\nof oppressions \u2013 you popped away your hands from the percussive<br \/>\nskin and the rhythm tilted like a boat in a stormy sea,<br \/>\nthe dance steps became fire on the heels of our talking drums<br \/>\nwhile the beats became a broken wall where the echoes<br \/>\nreflected our voices into a different name and then another<br \/>\nsun \u2013 Biafra \u2013 was cloned from the very skin that<br \/>\ncovered our vessels from fires of war.<\/p>\n<p>we became a land of shattered bones,<br \/>\nwhile our broken skin creaked against our flesh.<br \/>\nwe became a sky where two suns shone,<br \/>\nwhile the eclipse burnt our maps and carved a broken road<br \/>\non the ruins that bear the voices of our anthem<\/p>\n<p>those anthems have become a dirge,<br \/>\nwaiting on the shores of our throat with elegies<br \/>\nof moonlight tunes playing on the edges of broken strings<\/p>\n<p>our land is now home to wars,<br \/>\nwails of pain is now a lipstick on our women\u2019s lips,<br \/>\nblood is now a liquor for the belly of our men<br \/>\nwhile the children have found a home in the confines<br \/>\nof vacant spaces, resting on the palms of a dead future.<\/p>\n<p>here I am on the hard cushions of an autopsy,<br \/>\nthe hands of the wind are upon my chest, pressed against my ribs<br \/>\nto save me when I drowned in empty rivers,<br \/>\nall that is left for me are echoes singing in my bones<br \/>\nand gasps smearing my lips with words of hopes<br \/>\nand this is my will on this perilous land\u2026<br \/>\n\u201cOh Nigeria and Biafra, draw nigh to the tomb of thy fathers<br \/>\nand see their tears sticking to the graves like combs of honey,<br \/>\nsee their sweat colouring them like butterfly wings.<br \/>\nThen look into your eyes, hold one another in a welcoming<br \/>\nembrace and let your past dissolve into a goodbye song,<br \/>\nlet your bones echo our smiles into the wrinkles<br \/>\nof ONE NIGERIA!\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 1.7.8 -->\n<div class=\"quads-location quads-ad2\" id=\"quads-ad2\" style=\"float:none;margin:0px;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<script>\r\n  (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({\r\n    google_ad_client: \"ca-pub-5983616716487778\",\r\n    enable_page_level_ads: true\r\n  });\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>SONG OF SONGS\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nAduke, I shed my ink, not on stones<br \/>\nBut on the fleshy tables of your heart<br \/>\nIn you, I found a home not built by hands<br \/>\nBut the words spoken before time began<br \/>\nMy lips are sounding the gongs of time<br \/>\nAs I sing this Song of Songs that tingled the walls of Jericho<\/p>\n<p>The waves of nature swept my dizzy spine<br \/>\nAnd I slept into the cradle of the soil \u2013 Where I came from<br \/>\nAh! Alas! A rib is gone from my shelf<br \/>\nThat rib turned into a word and echoed your name<br \/>\nInto my flesh, blood and bones<br \/>\nWe became two naked words entwined in tangles of love<br \/>\nStaring at the river of warmth without shame<\/p>\n<p>You were a bone carved from the clay of words<br \/>\nSoft and strong were you, laced with the breath of life<br \/>\nI walked through the valley of the shadow of death<br \/>\nAnd all I saw was a lily as white as the milk<br \/>\nFlowing on the rock of sages<br \/>\nYour hips were like the shape of a rainbow<br \/>\nThat calmed the turbulence of my flooding heart<\/p>\n<p>At this labyrinthine twilight<br \/>\nMy shadow has wandered to find its love<br \/>\nBut here we are in a packet full of souls<br \/>\nWith the river flowing in you and I,<br \/>\nWe became a confluence of soothing springs<br \/>\nEchoing into moans of ecstasies<br \/>\nSmearing the nights with fragrance of warmth<br \/>\nWhile our seeds await a welcome banquet<\/p>\n<p>I rest upon the twin towers that guard your chest<br \/>\nFor therein I find solace of a thousand years<br \/>\nI looked through your eyes \u2013 the window of your heart<br \/>\nAll I saw were beds of roses designed into ridges<br \/>\nAnd then, I felt an assembly of butterflies,<br \/>\nMarching through my stomach<br \/>\nAnd when I felt the taste of your lips<br \/>\nThe sweet savour of wine led the butterflies into your heart<br \/>\nAnd then there was pollination of a thousand songs<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"2260\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/the-cradle-i-issue-8\/img_20170715_172326-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?fit=1449%2C1920&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1449,1920\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_20170715_172326\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?fit=226%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?fit=773%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2260 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1-226x300.jpg?resize=226%2C300\" alt=\"IMG_20170715_172326\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?resize=226%2C300&amp;ssl=1 226w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1018&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?resize=773%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 773w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_20170715_172326-1.jpg?w=1449&amp;ssl=1 1449w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Aire Joshua Omotayo<\/strong> is a student of the University of Ibadan. He made the list of top 100 entrants of the 2017 edition of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize. His works have appeared in diverse journals both home and abroad.\n<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 1.7.8 -->\n<div class=\"quads-location quads-ad3\" id=\"quads-ad3\" style=\"float:none;margin:0px;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<script>\r\n  (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({\r\n    google_ad_client: \"ca-pub-5983616716487778\",\r\n    enable_page_level_ads: true\r\n  });\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE CRADLE I (ISSUE 8) TWO POEMS | Aire Joshua Omotayo A VERSE FOR MY COUNTRY\u00a0 our mother\u2019s womb was a page in a night\u2019s&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[346],"tags":[475,474,441,114,476,255],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2306,"url":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/pinquarterlyjournal\/","url_meta":{"origin":2258,"position":0},"title":"PIN QUARTERLY JOURNAL (ISSUE 8)","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"PIN QUARTERLY JOURNAL (ISSUE 8): EDITOR\u2019S NOTE Strokes & Scars \u00a0 When your skin becomes a pamphlet of scars drawn by strokes of unsavoury experiences, give a pen to your scars and let them draw countless savoury lines, assuaging your pain, grief and disillusionment. 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Applying these principles guarantees positive results \u2013 every issue is a bedrock\/standard for overall improvement of subsequent issues.\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Across the Oceans\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2006,"url":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/blazing-hot-issue-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":2258,"position":2},"title":"BLAZING HOT (ISSUE 7)","date":"July 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"BLAZING HOT (ISSUE 7) HOME IS AN OPEN DOOR by Chisom Okafor \u00a0 Nobody leaves home Unless home is the mouth of a shark Warsan Shire. \u00a0 We once sauntered into the night or rather, flew into it with the bats, like pilgrims advancing by faith never here, nor there,\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Blazing Hot\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2261,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions\/2261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}