​Baton

By Omidire, Joshua Idowu

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.

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.