Can't You See? - Poems by Segun Akinlolu
- By Segun Akinlolu
- Published May 5, 2007
- Poems
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Segun Akinlolu
Segun Akinlolu is a performance-poet, a singer who strums along to a guitar as he chants his poetry to audiences across continents. A graduate of veterinary medicine from the University of Ibadan, Akinlolu is the author of Waiting For The Bones (1997) and Thinking Big (2000). The latter is a recommended text for high schools in Lagos, Nigeria.
Also known as Beautiful Nubia, a name under which he has recorded three music albums (Seven Lifes, Voice From Heaven and Jamgbalajugbu), he has been twice nominated for the South African Kora All-Africa Music Awards. A member of The League of Canadian Poets, The Songwriters Association of Canada and the Association of Nigerian Authors, he has been featured in several anthologies, including 25 New Nigerian Poets. He is also the author of a poetry CD titled On A Cold Evening. www.beautifulnubia.com
I am so happy,
So happy I haven’t eaten
In three weeks and a night.
In your eyes I see confusion,
Oh well, my happiness I can explain-
I have seven sons,
They live in our marbled mansion
Under the bridge at Falomo;
I’ve got a wonderful woman,
She wears her suffering well
You can see her if you look carefully
At Agege, with our last son
Under a multi-coloured umbrella
Safe from the sun and the rain
Naked to the world.
I feel so secure
I’ve got friends in high places
Some of them are in heaven, others in hell
They died just as they lived,
Despised and lonely
But really, what more can a man ask for
Than a chance to have his rotten body claimed
By the Task Force on Pollution
And be given a state burial,
What more?
We don’t whisper here-
We cry, we shout, we groan
We sigh, we gasp, we moan-
No, we don’t whisper here.
We don’t linger here-
We run, we jump, we drill
We kick, we grapple, we kill-
No, we don’t linger here.
We don’t gather here-
We crouch, we huddle, we bend
You are hot, you are cold, then… you are dead!
No, we don’t gather here.
Who needs people anyway?
Alone, I came into this world
Alone, I will leave!
I am so rich,
So rich I feel like them
Our men in high places
Maggot-meal in flowing agbada
But, why should I not be happy?
I’ve got seven sons under a bridge at Falomo,
I’ve got a wonderful woman
At Agege under an umbrella,
And I’ve just found me a new one
She’s only eighteen but she’s seen the world…
So, why should I not be happy,
What more can a man ask for-
Some coins, some rags, a bridge,
A chance to have your rotten body
Claimed by the Task Force on Pollution
And be given a state burial-
What more can a man ask for?
You tell me, what more?