Gray scalpel, gray slaughterers
Comb sideways of melding cow blood and brine, seriatim,
Stroke gold-yellow kerosene swells, possessive of the streets.
Burdened omnibus stabs the broken motorway,
Retracts to crouch en route for the mischievous hawker-
Belly swollen from hunger
The hovering dust pleats the road
Tar holds sway, smoky rust, like confounded wraiths, possessive of the runway;
Rebukes of spice-caked women foray
The somnambulist warden like ghostly whispers from derelict shores, yet,
Charms that pot-bellied man shaving beard.
Blast, commotion, fire, exhalations on rolling tyre- glory be!
By dawn. Here comes Lagos, plaiting notes of reckless nature with
Palates of the mussel-staunch heart
Lagos, stubborn male upon a broken peace
Night turns homewards, beating the throng’s plaint
‘Bove haunted mercurial night watchers- of trampling women, soul-sour policemen
Of leaking uniforms__
Written by: Oludipe Samuel
