ADEDOYIN KAYODE
A HOPE FOR JUSTICE
for Bámisé
Bodies scalpeled outside the theatre as if they are
surgical specimen. In my country, to leave work
for home & not end up with your organs mutilated is luck. Recently, a girl became a victim
of incision— her body dissected & separated from her soul. fire ants of loss bites a mother into helplessness.
Olúwabámisé, a name which could mean help mate. a name which when twisted could mean,
the outstretched hands of God & I imagine those hands cut short now.
I’m tired of lighting candles, to see the dead off to their graves. I’m tired of watching mothers fall &
then break into wails for the pain of loss placed heavily on their shoulders.
Bámisé was a rose & some animals grazed a mother’s blooming plant. what do we label this harvesting
of unripened crop ravaging the land with a famine of happiness? We wake everyday, carve our hands
into beggarly bowls, pleading neither for silver nor gold but for justice be brought to book.
This better not be another forsaken plea.
Adedoyin Kayode, Frontier IX, is a Nigerian writer who writes on any fascinating theme. His poem was short-listed for The African Writers lockdown challenge 2020. He was once a winner and a 2nd runner up for the Sent David poetry contest. His poems have appeared in libretto, Muse madness press, Olney, Mag 20/20, Poemify and elsewhere. When he is not writing, he enjoys teaching Mathematics or seeing movies.