the raffish
by Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
featured in Issue 1
featured in Issue 1
Let's talk about her:
The girl who lost her name
Between the thighs of some boys who caged her,
The girl who can't always afford always because her purse is empty as night,
The girl who doesn't know the name to
Give the child nobody wants,
The girl who only sees girls in her eyes.
Let's talk about him:
The boy who lost his name
In the trials of boyhood,
The boy who only knows a kind of love,
The boy who refuses to say his pain
Because he is afraid of being shamed,
The boy who died on the journey of finding purpose.
Let's talk about them:
The children who lost their playground
To bombs and shrapnel,
The children who lost their parents to
Unemployment and then know hunger,
The children thrown into the dark and touched in soft ways,
The children who just want to smile, play and know childhood.
Let's talk about power
The thing the draws a line between us,
The thing the erases humanity and embraces inhumanity,
The thing that makes one god enough
To forget purpose and service.
Let's talk.
Let's talk you, me, them, us.
Let's talk. Let's talk.
The girl who lost her name
Between the thighs of some boys who caged her,
The girl who can't always afford always because her purse is empty as night,
The girl who doesn't know the name to
Give the child nobody wants,
The girl who only sees girls in her eyes.
Let's talk about him:
The boy who lost his name
In the trials of boyhood,
The boy who only knows a kind of love,
The boy who refuses to say his pain
Because he is afraid of being shamed,
The boy who died on the journey of finding purpose.
Let's talk about them:
The children who lost their playground
To bombs and shrapnel,
The children who lost their parents to
Unemployment and then know hunger,
The children thrown into the dark and touched in soft ways,
The children who just want to smile, play and know childhood.
Let's talk about power
The thing the draws a line between us,
The thing the erases humanity and embraces inhumanity,
The thing that makes one god enough
To forget purpose and service.
Let's talk.
Let's talk you, me, them, us.
Let's talk. Let's talk.
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (@ChinuaEzenwa) is from Owerri-Nkworji, in Nkwerre, Imo State, Nigeria, and a lover of literature.
He writes for change and development.
He writes for change and development.
