The Rivers of My Land
Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria
2022, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
the rivers of my land
are memory books where time slowly takes a walk
like good old donkeys, patiently herding the scrolls of
river stories. water keeps memory.
the rivers of my land
hold sacred spirits locked in an ancient past, were
the abominable was defecation, where worshippers washed
their worship into river ducts, never knowing that their baptism
was the river’s cleansing, their obedience the river’s salvation
from pollution. water holds memory.
the rivers of my land
chant the forgotten songs of our tribes from river gods and goddesses
that have become washed out traditions,
traditions that kept the balance between plastic greed and water
purity. water has memory.
the rivers of my land
sing anecdotal rhymes, laughing at mankind
whose heaven-stretched arms wait
for manna solutions.
hypnotised by their environmental courses. water is memory.
the rivers of my land
are pregnant, the scan says the babies are forming at a numberless rate
carbon reef
rising heat
melting ice
flowing banks. water makes memory.
the rivers of my land
are nauseous with delivery signs, panging omens that the
end is beginning. in this beginning, the rivers of my
land are a metaphor for reincarnation, a death that births
life, like abiku, another chance to find the missing stone. water is memory.
the rivers of my land
are watching, waiting like a riddle whose answer is another
riddle. water keeps memory.
Reflection
Reflection
I live in the southern part of Nigeria, where community laws have been washed away by civilization and companies for selfish gains tagged "change.” These laws were “my river's salvation”—sacred and strict, as the river is believed to be an ancestral abode. Here, I feel that my “water has memories.” My heart bleeds, as currently my street is blocked with stinking, decaying, and mountainous waste that dances its way to the ocean. In my creative process, I thought of protesting the river’s agony and pains in its own words, poetically.