elegy

1/7/2021

By Sanni Oluwatimileyin

for Jimoh Isiaq

a bullet is a traitor.
it begs the flesh to open
into a wound, finds home
within a boy's body
& kills him.

here, i am still trying to understand how
time blindfolds us with ignorance in the face
of a looming bullet, how a boy could be
standing by the roadside, his body: a home
for little pulses of hope, coursing like blood
through tiny veins      & in the next moment,
he is sprawled    on the ground, his cloth
—once striped blue-white-black, now red
& soggy, as he bleeds out an urn of maroon
dreams / into a pool of crimson blossoms.

woe       on he whose finger sends death
on an errand into the thin air to claim
the bodies of boys feeding their minds
with the meaning of resistance.     i hold
the image of the dead boy in my mind-
scape, wondering     if i can stuff life back
into his body,     wondering if i can undo
time such that the bullet travels in reverse
into the offending barrel     with a bang
a bang   a bang like the sound of rebellion.

This poem is written for Jimoh Isiaq, a bystander who was shot dead during the EndSARS protest.

8 Comments

Ismail Yusuf Olumoh

5/7/2021 10:56:40 am

I can see grief in the poet's soul—heart— by lamenting to the world.

In his first stanza, the poet was no time, he did a great job, explained to the world how an innocent boy was killed during a protest with bullet drilled and shattered his body.

In the second stanza, the poet used colour psychology to explain how the boy shedded blood because of the pitched of bullet. He explained how blood filled the ground. Here he also explained that the boy his an hustler, whom the was killed by the road side. He used optic imagery and olfactory imagery

The third stanza explained how the boy's soul faded.

Faiza

5/7/2021 10:58:04 pm

Beautiful

Omotola

5/7/2021 07:29:30 pm

This is a poem of lamentation.

The first stanza describes the effect of a bullet and its lack of sympathy.

The second stanza laments the ignorance of our knowledge of time and describes how a boy who serves as the hope of the future got shot in the blink of an eye. The poet uses metaphors and other literary devices to create imagery.

The third stanza describes the poet's pain and quest for revenge to go back in time and prevent the boy's death by reversing the bullet to kill the shooter instead.

Seriki Theresa

6/7/2021 01:21:44 am

This is elegy at it's peak.
The sadness of the poet is so strong and easily transferable. The poem talks about the significance of time, how something or someone can be here now and gone in the blink of an eye. It also tells us how hope is snatched from the fingers of the fallen and dreams splattered on the ground.

The image of the boy coloured red haunts him, feeding his thoughts with conflicting thoughts; to undo what has been done or to boomerang the
deathly message back to the sender.
A very honest piece!

Osemuche Hope Chukwudumebi

6/7/2021 07:15:46 am

Such a lovely piece. We are indeed blinded by ignorance and only God can save us.

Praise

9/7/2021 04:16:19 pm

I could feel every emotion in every word as I read this. The poet has skillfully transferred the emotions that triggered this poem. It's such a lovely piece

Sophia Adepoju

17/7/2021 11:56:32 am

I've always known that poetry had a way of expressing grief and sorrow with the utmost compassion and truthfulness.

It paints a vivid image, a reality of what happened; what can happen to anyone, any bystander.

I think this poem gives life to Jimoh's story. It tells us what was, and what could be if we had power of restoration and power to turn the hands of the clock.

Emike Odion-osigwe

28/7/2021 07:30:54 am

It makes me want to cry. I think beyond the sadness that the poem is meant to portray is the confusion of how such a thing could happen. It's a great piece. May Jimoh Isiaq rest in piece.

elegy

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Copyright @SprinNG 2023

elegy

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Copyright @SprinNG 2023​

Copyright @SprinNG 2023