BY DIKE OKORO
Copyright is held by the author.
I hear a river’s lament
& imagine dust clouds
swell all over the house.
As tears break from his eyes,
he pauses to show me
the shackle scars on his wrists.
I was not born when it happened,
the imprisonment that set
the narrative rolling.
He had been too accommodating
of friendships and knew
little about betrayal being
a double-edged sword
One night, while looking for a hideout
the soldiers arrived in a jeep.
A neighbour friend led them
to his hiding place. “Na him,
na the man be dis” They took him away
as mother wept.
“My son, may you never live
to witness a war” he says to me.
His stares glued to the curtain
revealing the moon,
as I wondered what to make
of history lessons like a Biafra story.
***
Dike Okoro is a Nigerian-American writer, recently published in Callaloo, Bellingham Review, Fiyah Magazine, Witness Magazine and Scarlet Leaf Review. A finalist for the Iliad Poetry Award (Library of Congress) and a finalist for the Cecile De Jongh Literary Award, Okoro is the author of four full-length poetry collections, including Homecoming (New and Selected Poems), In the Company of the Muse, and Dance of the Heart. His other books include (Essays) Futurism and the African Imagination: Literature and Other Arts, (Editor) Speaking for the Generations: Contemporary Short Stories from Africa, and (Editor) We Have Crossed Many Rivers: New Poetry from Africa.
Heartfelt read. Really well done.
It wasn’t until the last line that I read the reference to the Biafran war. I’m old enough to remember it from afar, in my twenties in London. It made headlines, but the suffering didn’t hit the hearts of Englishmen as it should. I rarely comment on poetry: most of it makes little sense to me, but this hit home.
This poem, typical of Okoro’s poetry, effortlessly blends language and imagery to create a work of lasting impression. Excellently done!