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​Baton

1/6/2022

14 Comments

 
By Omidire, Joshua Idowu
Picture
I am the weight of the wind
because my shadows won’t leave the places I left behind.
 
I am the one without reflections. 
 
and if you don’t believe me, try flooding my body with the 
lights from your eyes.
 
my emptiness is a statue; with head of gold and feet of iron;
crash your weight against my god, no; your heat;
 ​
perhaps you can watch it melt and have me breathe,
freely again. I know the lot making an effortful burst
 
through sullied trachea, count your nose lucky if you are
not one of us.
 
us, who set the ocean in us ablaze with boats
aiming for the hell on the other side through the waves
 
whose breath is smoke hacking our lungs and 
scooping from the deep’s face the names of 
 
beloveds that said and did everything out of tune and time
 
you are youthful
I am loose.
we are the crooked ones filling the bottomless cup
with waters from a barren barrel 
chasing apparitions of the future that many may 
never touch before they fall 
 
we are earth; we are dirt
we are all that made us and all that’ll take us
we are children of garbage rummaging 
the dunghill for memories that crumbled
when the flood swept through our homes.
 
A grave stands at the summit of our filth
mourners make a ring around a glass casket
wherein an athlete sleeps and keeps beside himself
a sparkling baton. 
 
they say he is the king of dunghill and that
his only son is one of us. One of us starts crying, and
all of us join in.
I am One-of-us, the Prince of Filth. I tear 
into the ring, and the mourners hold me back
I wriggle my voice out of their grips
alerting the world to the baton in the coffin.
Picture
Writer’s Biography
Omidire, Joshua Idowu is a vibrant poet, editor, blogger, and social media strategist. He studied English and Literary Studies at the University of Lagos. He later had his master’s in Literature-in-English in the same Institution. 
 
His poems have appeared in Footmarks, Our Legacy of Madness, and The Sky is our Earth: Anthology of 50 young Nigerian Poets. He was the winner of professor Eruvbetine’s poetry prize. He also won Professor Hope Eghagha’s Drama prize in 2012. He has been published in Pulse, Ynaija, Praxis, Literary Horizon: An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal, etc. He reports for The Journal Nigeria. 
 
He loves reading books, listening to music, and scooping inspiration from the stream of mundane activities. He enjoys playing with street photography, graphic designing, and photo editing. 
14 Comments
Adebiyi Ayobami Idris
2/6/2022 02:42:50 pm

Beautiful writeup %%

Reply
Esthere
4/6/2022 05:59:43 pm

My feelings are in-between...
I can't tell where words want to lead me. It's a beautiful piece but I feel it can be more straight forward, so that more like me would understand, what the words are trying to paint.

Reply
Gladys Jacob
7/6/2022 02:18:17 pm

This is peom has so much meaning in it. I love it .

Reply
Funmilayo Oladunni
7/6/2022 06:35:21 pm

This is beyond superficial ,its for the sage .
A piece with magnificence

Reply
Taiwo Daniel link
8/6/2022 03:12:53 pm

Wow. It's beautifully written. Tells me of the writer's realistic outlook on a life that is somewhat full of disappointment and hopelessness. A hopelessness he has resigned himself to live through for as long as he has to live.

Reply
Blessing Olayinka
10/6/2022 12:54:38 am

Wow... It's a philosophical experience all through.

I say this because the poet percieves reality as a youth. The poem also portrays the breach between childhood and adulthood. He talks about the stages of life and from it we sense the theme *vanity*.

The poet seems stuck as a youth and also everywhere. He also explains the traumatic experience of emptiness in most youths even though they look healthy on the outside.


It is a philosophical piece to we youths to observe well because of the path, that is, vanity we call life


I believe the poem can be arranged in a more composed way, nevertheless, congratulations Mr. Joshua.

Reply
Promise
10/6/2022 07:57:29 pm

Life is a race and death is the inevitable end of the race.

Reply
Anita Monjok link
12/6/2022 11:27:34 am

Beautiful piece.You rock Joshua!

Reply
Treasure
18/6/2022 02:33:09 pm

This is beautiful piece, I definitely want to read more of your work.

Reply
Olamide Ojediran
20/6/2022 09:56:48 am

This poem made me think a lot after reading it. I feel it has a lot of curves which a layman may not understand after the first reading. Regardless, it's a wonderful piece. Your play with words is amazing

Reply
Victor Oliyide
27/6/2022 08:42:48 am

The poem is full of high metaphors - only a trained mind can process the subject matter. The diction is highly cerebral though simple. A poem I will like to read if I want to psyche my thinking faculty up.

Reply
Abebi
3/7/2022 08:47:07 pm

I’ve read this twice!! And both times I connected differently. But one thing that can’t be taken away is how your mind is awakened and you admit to yourself how one is just going through the motions and projecting what isn’t on the inside. I’ll surely be back again with another comment lol 😆

Reply
Blessing
8/7/2022 04:01:15 pm

Inspiring piece

Reply
Busayo
1/9/2022 11:04:38 pm

It's a good read.

Reply



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  • Publications
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