A True Rebrand Poem by Tobi Adebowale

Like a tongue
Deprived of the teeth’s company
It lay sprawled
Like it could do no wrong
It wore a smile serene
And a demeanour so sane
That made me doubt
If indeed I had reached it
But I had
And pleasantly invincible
Were its struggling millions
Its surging unapproved kiosks
Its maddening buses
And shifty hands stealing purses
Also happily lost
Was its love for confusion

So like an old man
Tired of his wicked ways
Oshodi watched with disinterest
My daring regal strides
That once drew its ire
Oshodi lay passive
Divorced from its devious spirit
That hitherto fed me fear
Seasoned with courage
and bravery spiced with caution
That old Oshodi
Also taught me to rejoice
every single day I
walked past it
without being pinched
by its ever untraceable claws.