Lovesong for my Wasteland, Sequence XVII by Remi Raji

But as it was in the beginning... 
We have long been lost to the substance of things 
We have long sought the shadow of the masquerader 
And we puke in pride and laziness. 

As it was... 
We who own the land steeped in fats 
Still beg the world to feed our greed. 
You who now call yourselves conquerors 
Where, where is your trophy of victory?

For those who snore in the glory of self-contentment 
The past is, 
the present is not, 
the future is nothing.

Remi Raji

Remi Raji is a Nigerian poet, scholar, literary organiser and cultural activist. Raji’s first collection of poems – A Harvest of Laughters (1997) – has won national and international recognition. 

Fogetting...

Remi Raji

As sure as the deceptive day 
you're the only cell in my stem 
the stomata of unending songs,... 

Because I crave your lips, and you're not here 
I want to forget you, haunted by the paradox in the air 
you're the only thing whose epilepsy I have loved 
and I have known betrayals not like yours... 

Your contradictions have become the theorem

of what it is to love and laugh in the gutters of despair 
But I'm also a paradox, born into the treachery of dim decades 
I have survived other lives and many deaths. 

I want to forget, 
I want to forget your face 
I want to forget your face in my fear 
I want to forget my fear in your face 
I want to forget my fear in your face forever... 

Because I am possessed, my songs for you will not end 
And though the abuse persists 
it is in your tears that the diamonds shall grow. 
One day when you go out with me, if I live to hold your sight again 
the evening will wear a new name, and your familiar places painted new. 

I will be the resurrection, you the lives of many who are silenced now.

Remi Raji

Remi Raji is the pen name of Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, a Nigerian poet, scholar, literary organiser and cultural activist. Raji’s first collection of poems – A Harvest of Laughters (1997) – has won national and international recognition. 

Abuja by Tanure Ojaide

Here where all cardinal points meet in a capital

Here where rocks raise homes to the sky

Here where the savannah rolls over the soil

the coven where witches plot the demise of others

this is where chiefs celebrate on the sweat of slaves

this is where range chickens consume and scatter leftovers

this is where the hyena's den is guarded by rings of packs

and swallowed it, leaving no scent for a trace

this is where the boa-constrictor strangles its catch

this is where robbers boast of their callous acts

and laugh at the plight of a hundred million cowards

this is where the national flag covers a cesspool

this is where a god led his worshippers to die

this is where I weep for my entire land

Tanure Ojaide

Tanure Ojaide (born 1948) is a prolific Nigerian poet and writer. He is noted for his unique stylistic vision and for his intense criticism of imperialism, religion,and other issues. He is the author of six books of poetrty, including Labyrinths of the Delta , The Blood of Peace and The Daydream of Ants . He is two-time winner of both the All-Africa Okigbo Prizefor Poetry and the Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Prize. A memoir, Great Boys: An African Childhood , was recently published.