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the village chief’s wife & the boy who told tales to a blue bird (a poem by Kukogho Iruesiri Samson)

Read Time:1 Minute, 9 Second
Our village chief paid many cowries 
& herds of a million cows in dowries 
to possess his lovely wife…
but he soon banished her
into the silence of the other room
when she complained about his broom

Alas! As the chief tended his dwindling armoury
she made her bed inside the village granary
& awaited his derailed attention…
One by one, she ate the village yams & beans
relocating both barn & granary into her stomach bins

Today, the chief’s wife visited the village square
her once-rectangular parts are now square!
but we dare not boo or harry her…
lest we be like the boy who told a tale 
to a blue bird & found himself in an empty jail

disclaimer: this is a work of fiction about the chief of a village named after a river in a land not so far away. it has nothing to do with the country named nigeria.

Kukogho Iruesiri Samson is a Nigerian writer, communications professional, and publishing entrepreneur. Kukogho has authored five books, including Devil’s Pawn (2020), winner of the 2018 GT Bank Dusty Manuscript Prize. Kukogho has received several accolades, both as a writer and a literary administrator. He founded and manages the popular art development organization Words Rhymes & Rhythm, its assisted-authorship publishing imprint, Authorpedia Publishers, and its literary arts journal, CỌ́N-SCÌÒ Magazine.

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