THE SOUND OF RAINBOW

DIPE JOLAADE, 1ST RUNNER-UP,
​ERIATA ORIBHABOR POETRY PRIZE (EOPP) 2019 

Click Here to Download the Full Anthology of the Winning Poems

sometimes when my body molts away 
from salvation   i always fold my self 
into brown letters- grandpa is a loosened 
memory; of sand, gravel, silver tiles & 
roses and the only way he's in our heart 
is the tales displayed on the news 
"injured soldiers, slaved citizens & colonized community"  

_abami eda plays on the radio_

My  deduction's never wrong. 
I say we're the remains of a forgotten 
massacred, masking scars & pains as a 
forlorn- a spook in chains of deserted dreams, 
as liveless dusts- fading history and I say 
Luther's dream has bent to this limelight. 

  & at times the etymology of broken bottles 
makes a tumescense hole in our hearts. 
say a man's hope is enveloped in a white A3 
with blood as label "we'd loved to but... "
he drank into the night, drain is the new home. 
as it is that hell to his body found 
its origin at  home. 

And most times, chasing after shadows seems
to be the way to grip our brother's collar, 
Knit our sisters into pinkish rainbow dreams
& wobble their eyes into household moon; 
watching as we lace our hands with magic, say:
-the rainbow is a beautiful poem in seven lines
-the thede's foundation is a rigid statue
-the paroxysm of happiness is contactable 
-& holding on is strength itself. 

Glossary
Thede - A nation
Abami Eda - Extraordinary being (in reference to Fela Anikulapo)

---

Dipe Jola is a teenage Nigerian writer and ardent lover of art and literature who enjoys reading and writing poems. Jola’s writings have been featured in a numbers of anthologies. According to her, darkness is light to hidden rainbows. She lives in Lagos from where she writes.