I listen to a distant gong
in my childhood’s backwater
in the open moment that closes off
the snobbery of books and age
I want to stretch my hand
to life as it breathes
beyond the known for the knowable
– people and things, time and cattle
I want to knead them together
in hope wrapped in leaves of pure will
I sit still, listening to distances
in my childhood’s backwater
– a dragonfly holding the sun at a standstill
to rid the air of absent anchors
I want to witness the simple moments
that great events envy
to revel in the eyes that I plucked
from my father’s eyes
eyes that have armed my vision
to draw the kaolin of fate
around the circumcision of dreams
I want to be loyal to their naivety
to bear witness to their simple portents
hence I worry when
my shed tree threatens to go mad
bowed by fruits that it cannot disown
Culled from ‘The Harbour Master Poems‘
Another of Odia Ofeimun’s poems on Teambooktu is How Can I Sing?
Odia Ofeimun
A former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and private (Political) Secretary to the late Nigerian nationalist and statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Odia Ofeimun is a poet, journalist, and public intellectual. He studied Political Science at the University of Ibadan and was a founder member of the Pan African Writer's Association. Author of several books of political and literary essays, his collections of poetry include The Poet Lied, A Handle for The Flutist, Dreams At Work, London Letter and Other Poems, Go Tell the Generals and A Boiling Caracas. His poems for dance drama cover Under African Skies, A Feast of Return, and Nigeria The Beautiful. Odia Ofeimun is also the editor of significant anthologies òf Nigerian poetry including Lagos Of The Poets.
Great work