She's Waiting There For You Poem by Ayo Sogunro

The traffic wriggles between us
Slithering from Ozumba to the Lagos Island
A growing snake, intent on devouring our day
I know exactly what’s on your mind
As you dial my number and my phone begins to pulse:
It’s going to be the same excuse I gave yesterday
Now I want to turn back, give up, so long.
Then the lines from that ‘80s song:

Gonna take a lot to take me away from you…
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you…

The girl in pink beckons me at the bar
She’s the latest in a series of nightly fantasies
It’s tempting to follow her glowing siren
A sweet adventure in the shadow of her crevices
Stolen kisses won’t hurt you when we’re far
My body desires, an incontinent teen
But I remember your eyes, your lashes cast long
Sweeping like the lines of that ‘80s song:

Gonna take a lot to take me away from you…
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you…

A minute ago, you called me on the phone
You’ll soon be at my place, you’re on the road
Happily, you tell me to prepare, you’re not so far
I wonder at the source of the lightness in your tone
And my heart transforms into a heavy load—
You’re calling from another man’s car.
A stinging reply had come to my tongue
But it was stopped by that ‘80’s song:

Gonna take a lot to take me away from you
There’s nothing a hundred men or more could ever do…
Hurry boy, she’s coming here for you…