Calabash Poem by Tunji Ibrahim

Calabash



Over all sentient beings, divine and quotidian affairs Olodumare - the prana, the source of natural forces - wields cosmic agbara; in the cleft of the rock Oduduwa cloaked his kismet, bequeathing his progeny the rocks of hearts and primacy, steeped in tradition. The tyranny and wiles of neanderthal Bashorun Gaha in Oranmiyan's own forest state heightened the impulsion for his ostracism and eventual incineration. Many defeated army generals were eaten up by the primordial monomania of infernal edicts - buried their shame and ignominous defeats in the primitive belly of self-immolation not until Kankafo Afonja who shot the sharp arrow of defilement at the heart of tradition, fugitive from man and his execrable ways. Alafin, the supreme king of Yorubaland, was by no means equal to wearing the notorious toga of royal tyranny, nay, let a king become obstinate and fan the ember of repudiation leading to his ritual felo-de-se by being compelled to open an empty calabash. Aremo, a prince by birth, the eldest son of Alafin and Abobaku, the king's man... their souls could not but be relinquished to harikari, the ritual bandobast and succour towards the ascendancy of the king's spirit to the afterlife, otherwise let the world be loose in the void... a flimsy facade. Being prostrated to the volonte of the Yoruba pantheon: Obatala, the divine sculptor; Orunmila, the mythic founder of Ifa; Sango, the god of thunder; Ogun, the god of war; Esu/ Elegbara, the evil god... must be exalted.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
S.zaynab Kamoonpuri 27 November 2012

Oh la la ambiguously intense but interesting poetic sentences. Im an indian but i rmember hearin of yoruba tribe perhaps by achebe novels we read. Kudos.

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Tunji Ibrahim

Tunji Ibrahim

Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.
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