(From a story most of us know quite well)
It was our Genesis
the beginning of a continuation
of our potentials’ quick Exodus
Then every ruler shouted promises like the Lord
sparking our hopes as we heard their crackling voices rise:
‘Let there be light!’
Trust our Non-Existent Power Authority:
The darkness pervades our lives
wearing us gloom
The Problem Has Changed Name
corporation turned to a million DisCos
promising rebirth, dances and a beauty bloom
It was the twin of faux freedom
that gave us the power of grating noises
as we bark above generators or hiss at the dark
Indeed, we brew thunder and fart noises
which amount to zilch in our hydro-electric dreams
projecting our collective sustainable deterioration goals
A drunkard preaches the politician’s book of Revelation:
a harvest will come of our dams
yea, we would surely reap several ‘Damns!’
ADDENDUM:
Gen 1:3 And God said ‘Let there be Light’
and ¹NEPA replied: ‘Mba nu!’
¹ National Electric Power Authority
Su’eddie Vershima Agema is a Nigerian poet, editor and literary administrator. He is also a culture promoter. Author of two poetry collections, Bring our Casket Home: Tales one Shouldn’t Tell, and Home Equals Holes: Tale of an Exile, a short story collection, The Bottom of Another Tale and the NLNG Nigeria prize for Literature 2022 nominated shortlisted book – Memory and the Call of Water.