We are no longer what blood is to the body
After Tiken Jah Fakoly
I
They are sharing the world. This same small
village of ours, where our fathers erected
their huts, & buried their aged. They are
destroying the sky we built with our unequal
fingers. They are piercing knife between
the city, detaching the body from the head,
& squeezing the blood out of the flesh,
so there can be an end to what hasn’t begun.
II
They have shared the world which belongs
to us, without our consent. They have
claimed every part. Still, everyone is
somewhere claiming another part for
himself. They say they want the head
to move without the body. They say they
want the arms to move without the shoulder.
They say they want the head to move
without the consent of the neck.
They say they don’t want us to be what
blood is to the body.
Opeyemi Oluwayomi is a Nigerian writer, an English & Literary student of University of Ibadan. His works have appeared on Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, Art Lounge Journal, Brittle Paper, Shallow Tales Review, Ekstasis Magazine, Eboquil Magazine, SpringNG, and elsewhere. He was the second-runner-up winner of the Shuzia Poetry Competition, 2023 (Journey of the Soul).