My Country Is Full Of Thorns Poem by Tony Adah

The limping cricket starts its burrow
By the roadside
At the last drops of rain
So I'm early to the seashore
But my boat is eaten by white ants
While black ants stick to my body
And sting me
If I go back the wailing entrails
Of the children will not me stay
It isn't only fish that is food
I will look into a terminarium
To see if there are termites
But the coiling Python greets my teary eyes
Where will I find what it takes
To fill the void in our stomach?
I'll try mushrooms on death palms
Still dry fronds set their thorns
Upwards like church spires
Waiting for the soles of my legs
I do not know where to go
For my country is full of thorns.