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time's infinite stretched hind-limbs remind me that life is no man's mate ask your forebears, they met this ageless historian here in life's classroom with eyes-fluttering nursery rhymes & since mine too have fluttered into a heritage of discovery, i realised, we all meet this stage for a play of passion & when time rules out our stays, we must saunter out whatever our roles, we immortalise our characterisations in the scripts of next generation's story arc this poem is a bird of panegyrics in the palace of legends plucking some epic notes on the strings of orature it sings of men who mounted a pedestal of literary trajectory if not for Chinua, Soyinka, Osundare, Okigbo, Nwapa, Emecheta... would our winged arms soar with such momentum carrying our fathers' coloured tales across the seas? /Adichie, Teju Cole being the nexus of ancient mantles/ even so, i write of emergent grassroots men these are merchants of our dear intellectual art i write of Eriata's 1000poets4change & PIN, Kukogho's WRR & authorpedia, Badmus's inkspired & all who became Àràbà of pecuniary attires covering nakedness of saplings to bud into Ìrókò. i leave this note on the lips of tomorrow, let them say, these souls live on, with immortal footprints on this terrain of african poetics embodying our narrative experiences.
Olajuwon, Joseph Olumide is an award-winning poet, teacher, soul singer & author from Ogun State, Nigeria. Olajuwon holds a degree in Mass Communication and teaches English Language, History, and Literature at the secondary school level. His published works include ‘Walking The Pathway Of Excellence’, an inspirational prose, a poetry chapbook titled ‘Beyond Our Dreams’, and Indispensable Allies, a mystery novel. His writings have appeared in CỌ́N-SCÌÒ Magazine, Minutes Magazine, Libretto, Etn 21, Arts Lounge, Eboquill, PIN Quarterly Journal & elsewhere. He is a four-time winner of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Prize.
