Fish Not Oil Poem by Stephen Oduware

Yester years fishes swarm in waterand not in crudestraight to the net, knowing it was a trapbut for the adventure of the strapFisher folks clapped with thumbs up highto the village square and some to the market square and not in the crude

What a great catch fisher hunterwhat a slippery deceit am in the catcher adventurous fishis this not crab, crayfish, croaker, shawa? how much is sheke, adagba, woi, manati?but for that one, I will pay for plethoric diversitywith my currency and not in the crude

2 1/2 minutes past midnightwalked through the street, from coast to coast fisher folks on the edge looking straight without a gazenets empty with a catch of dirtwhat has happened sighs on highwashed my face, luster of crude sheen running down my cheek and not in the crude

The water was here, it's like a dreamcovered with crude, like a creamwhere is my fish?Down there as it floats pale without a wave trains are empty even in the squares the big man says we can fish hereand not in the crude

Let's go the other way but the river is groundsand heap at the behest of the big manwhere is my river, streams, creeks and flow? where is my fish Mr. big manwhere is my water in the coast and not in the crude

I will beat the big man but I have to be civil, political muscles is global fist without punchto rise and march to his gate to demand my fish not oil