Poetry

Night Cake: Two Poems by Paul O. J.

danger
Image: Pixabay.com remixed
danger
Image: Pixabay.com remixed

NIGHT CAKE

darkness warned her      how the night
clothes itself with danger.      but
she like a deaf fly
flew into the night.

from the web of darkness,
they crawled into her. ate her up
like a cake baked for the night.
her voice ran into streets but
help has gone to bed.

twisted
squeezed      into loaves.
sliced           into pieces.

the night has laid upon her      a scar,
a story that murders the heart.

———————

MAKING A BOY MAN

aunty Caro said,      love
is for boys. sex
for men.
for a boy to be a man. then
he must learn       to play the game of men.

a boy is but a sheep. she, my shepherd.
in her room was a slaughter.

aunty said, the rules of the game
are:
rule one:      lay on me.
rule two:      run on me.
rule three:
Press them
Twist them.

my tongue rolled into a slippery slope
where words gain no balance,
“but
the games of men
are not meant for boys” I muttered

“I thought you were a man
now I know you are not” she said.

———————
Poems © Paul O. J.
Image: Pixabay.com remixed

About the author

Paul Ojevwe Dididjon

Paul Ojevwe Dididjon is a Nigerian poet. He uses the artistic beauty of words to perform a transformational surgery on the society. He studies English and Literature Education at the University of Benin.

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