CALIBAN, AFTER THE SAIL

           A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
           Nature can never stick; on whom my pains,
           Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost[!]

It is 1960. The city begins with winds.

The hands that once fetched firewood
Now shall fetch a glass of wine. The boat
Of time is here & it’s my turn to take
The oar. Let the green island be mine.
Servile Ariel, let your anger fist the air
For these islanders I must cast
Into my verbal cell. Let your low blood
Dispel your fairy ambitions.
Islanders, raise the glasses & throw some feasts
For my dainty Sycorax…

    It is 1966; what does the Red Sea know
    of a lifelong bindi? 2020; the sky holds a 
    ceremony of crows. The city lingers on flood.

    … Islanders, isn't this the promised land?

These blood and flood; aren’t they the waters
Of your dreams? These flames on your roofs,
Aren’t they the oranges for your hunger? O’
Do not whine, nay, let your whinings be abound;
For there are grains for your tears; there, some
Little grain to appease your sorrows. & thumbs.
(O’ witty Prospero, how potent your teachings
That softened my croaky flute!)

     It is 2025; a drowned city is found ashore.
    Two years later: survival rate is very low.

The time has come, people, the time has come,
Truly, to lead you to the promised land. To
Keep safe your jars of dreams, and reclaim it
Not in shards; the time has come, people, the
Time has come. For the return of peace—o’ that
Long-forgotten dream!—the time has come. To
Sleep and not flinch awake, from the adhans of
Rabid guns; the time has come, to harvest
Baskets of gladness. O’ Caliban, I promise,
How empty the bank of death, how mirandous
The break of day; how mouthful the soft bread—

        Years later: what Jerusalem hides in a grain
         Of sand, or is it Babel again?

Abdul Awal Arikewusola

Abdul Awal Arikewusola, Swan XIV, hails from Ṣakí, Oyo state, Nigeria. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he was a joint winner of the Sevhage-JAY Lit/Hyginus Ekwuazi Poetry Prize (2024). He was finalisted for Polyphony Lit Journal Black history contest (2024), and was longlisted for Blessing Kolajo Poetry Prize (2024). His works have appeared in South Florida Poetry Journal, Eunoia Review, Brittle Paper, Afritondo, Poetry ColumnNND, Blue Minaret, The Stirling Review, The Zinnia Journal, The AprilCentaur Network, JayLit magazine, and elsewhere. Abdul Awal is currently a student of English and Literary Studies at Federal University Oye-Ekiti. He's on X @Awalbabatunde11