Because I am black greed governed our lives,
Lines, drawn for differentiation.
I possess thick lips wreathed in short nose
Short hairs with proud forehead.
In the old, manacled, abducted
In rooms inscribed with ‘A land of no return’
Tumbling the immense car in great swiftness
Making my divine home miles away
To the belabourment of foreign land.
For the many valleys dug for burial
Of black remnants of old
Unspeakable mistresses in junk cabins
Serving in servitude the rulers,
Calls for compensation.
When I go beyond the drawn radius
Reeling to crumble the opaque scenario,
The red eyes came up in the south of the continent.
Because I am black, is it a clog,
Am I a wick to light the lamp of the world?
Martins Iyoboyi was born in Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Zone, The Flask Review, 63 Channels, The Bending Spoons, Zeitschrift for the Nations, Temenos, Rhythm, Munyori, Contemporary Rhyme, Chiron Review, Poetry Cemetery and Boyne Berries.
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