20170926

Obododimma Oha


Two Ivories, One Coast

A fort appears in the evening sky
And a cannon utters a rude warning
In the dispute between two ivories.

One coast of dark cargoes
Two ivories locked in feud
Two ivories, one coast of too many losses.

When the next cannon sounds
A history goes under
And two ivories lose the coast

Two ivories,
One elephant cemetery.
One sad past.

The trumpet of an elephant crashing down
Excites the world
Gbagbogbogbogbo Alassane!
Upon the frightened grass.

Two ivories,
One large African cemetery, where
Brother slaughters brother buries brother beats his chest
Two ivories,
One death.



Spain






Obododimma Oha is a Professor of Cutural Semiotics and Stylistics in the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His poems have been published in several literary journals, for instance Otoliths, Shadowtrain, African Writing Online, Postcolonial Text, Ekleksographia, Envoi, Sentinel Poetry Online, and Ase. He co-edited the anthology One Hundred Thousand Poets for Change with Anny Ballardini and Michael Rothenberg. More information on him can be obtained from his blog, http://udude.wordpress.com/.
 
 
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