see O. come look how night dey fall inside
pipo mouth //
for where you go see Chidubem, my friend
again?
kpom! kpom! Chidubem, how far your soul
don waka?
I swear, Chidubem my broda wey I see for
nwanyi akara place yesternight, don kpeme—
don do jolly
jolly with im last breath so. go observe. see as
im mama don
cry mississippi for dia compound, & im fine
sisters face
don worwo—don orobo with grief. I come
begin ask
pipo: na weytin kill am? na which kain
bloody shele drag my friend
go God house like dis, when im hour neva
reach? dem talk plenty
tori tori / dem say e thief / say Chidubem, my
friend, na
thief. O, see me—see yeye mistruth, a whole
village de carry bad belle
with tongue like poison. Chi no be robber—
Chi no dey rob—Chi
no dey steal. See dem. Dem don delete my
friend from this
earth, & e bi like say my own obituary go
follow. mama tell
me say make I run commot, say make I go
anoda place find wife.
make una come see my village, where bad
belle na forest wey
dey grow ontop every man head like im hair.
II.
anoda part? ah, na weytin una won hear
again? ok. I carry
myself go Ghana // mama phone me
yesterday, tell me
say: Peter, my friend, don waka comot from
dis earth, say
Munachi, my oda friend, don do wedding
with grave. mama say na
bad-belle-pipo kill dem. see ehn, I dey swim
inside tears since I hearam.
dem don kill all my friends finish, na only me
remain / my peace of mind
don fall for ground / our friendship don waka
enter memory. dem
don paint my friends dem name red / badbelle-pipo don slaughter dem
because them get plenty property. bad belle,
na why? why you anoint this land
for head like dis? mama just inform me sey
make I run again, make I comot
from afrika. she say dem dey come for me,
say na my five acres of
land dem won collect—my existence, dem
won use pistol rinse am.
Njikonye Charles N. (he/him) is a writer & poet from Umuahia, Nigeria. His works have
appeared in Eremite Poetry, NantyGreens, Poetry Column-NND, and many. Social media
handles @njikonyecharlie on Twitter and Instagram. He’s a student at the Federal University of
Lafia, Nasarawa state, Nigeria