Somewhere in My Country, Poem by Uchendu kelechukwu Njionye

SOMEWHERE IN MY COUNTRY 

A wandering flutist
Stopped to eulogize an Iroko; 
This Iroko has no branch for birds to perch 
No leaves to shelter strangers 
Yet it stood
With the skulls of those who tried clenching to it but fell. 
Flutist began
with his legs wide apart like a drunk madman
His eyes dim- like a ghost making love to the wind, 
He touched the body of the iroko 
Trying hard to find words 
for you do not appease a nameless ghost.
Again:
Iroko has no bark to heal the grasses that shed him from erosion 
It’s source of water were the blood of those tiny vines that waited upon it to hang their dirty linings
And died of too much patience. 
Flutist began again :
This time calling on those who’d pass by 
To bring their idea on how best to roast a hairless Goat 
But all that answered were apparitions agitating for funeral rites 
With dirges on their footstep. 
If you help find a soothsayer 
Who can pick tears from seawater 
Tell him, somewhere in a forest
Lay a flutist with broken whistle and cracked lips
Seeking the best way to roast a hairless animal. 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Uchendu
kelechukwu Njionye is a budding spoken word poet and fashion designer,
with the stage name uchenjie, presently residing in Aba, Abia state
Nigeria. He believes Art is the best form of Expression. 

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