Outwards from Here

Eyo Greets: I rejoice for you, I rejoice for me too!

Eyo tells us many stories but one;
So our fathers founded Lagos and let the Portuguese
Lay the mat between us and the world,
Honorable men welcome strangers and give them a home, Eko Akete
Has stood as the ripeness of the sky
And the charm of the seas
Two Hundred Years before Lugard
Cheated History, We founded a Play
And honoured Akintoye, the King History
Easily remembers and hides quickly.

Our play begun with a procession to delight,
We danced like David danced though
Covered in white sack-clothes and Laces
Bought with the affluence of the Lagoon,
The Yoruba is history about honour
Eyo honours its own.

Eyo makes us jump like spirits in the sky,
We recall all the poems we have written and yelled,
Those that conquered the enemies
And crowned our sons, the owners of the land
And Lagoon of Lagos
The Yoruba is word about Victory
Eyo binds us all as victors.

The Eyo isn’t Masquerade alone!
It is the spirits of men erupting in the skies
With songs and rejoicing, and new sons and daughters
That have been born in these years of liberty.
The Yoruba is a spirit of freedom
Eyo embodies it.

The sea that is home to us will not drown
Our children in their play,
It will not lead our seeds away
when they should blossom.
The Yoruba is prayer, Eyo prays us to Peace!

Poem “Eyo Greets” Taiwo Ajayi
Photo Credit Suraj Adekola Eyo Festival Atmosphere, TeraKulture

Biafra: In conversation with Chris Abani

Caveat; this is not a history lesson,
this is not only about the Igbo,
I want to reflect my humanity back you
We are just exploring the fabric of our
shared humanity as story tellers.

Let’s remember some names, Dr Njoku Obi
Invented the Cholera Vaccine, Scientists have
argued long business records,
But the world became flat in Biafra.
It is an African Proverb to say it was an ethnic cleansing, killing of the last tribe of Israel,
will you blame Nnamdi Kanu?
Opinions help the people to heal.

II

Dear Chris,
Your mother was English and was trapped in the war, but had to face off soldiers from making her sons, boy soldiers in the service of Holy Ojukwu. My father signed in the army ten years after, he was served with boots and armours
Of those soldiers who conducted the massacre of your people, in Kano and Kaduna, Lokoja and the Niger Bridge. Yet they ask us both to forget about it and find it easier to blame Hitler for the Holocaust

III

This is never about language