Fresh Blood Poem by Adeniran Joseph

FRESH BLOOD


The day you die is the day you're left behind your shadow.
Some voices are planting dirges on your skull,
Form a tribute to the sentence in your mother's cheecks,
That is a way to break the bones in your mouth,
For the flowing of river to be in your secret atire.

Say you're not going to drop tears tonight,
Say you won't be boys without a father,
Say your words are drinking the water of life,
Say you won't stop the sound in your heart,
you can't be a friend to yourself if you don't know how to walk barefooted.

Your sister was pregnanted for reading the nakedness of the world,
You stood at a angry bird and echoes voices of gods,
You never ask her what led to the sudden change in her body,
All you do is to bend your shadow into pieces of a rainbow,
And you expect the hands of gods to be in your shoulder,
You won't be sorry to write yourself into a broken bottle,
Listen to what your legs says before you mount a bike.

In a place like home smelling of bloodshed,
For innocent boys that got trapped by sun,
For the city that wore the body of dead streets,
You have been thinking of surviving with your words,
But your end can't wait to drop a letter behind you,
Read the letter, what does it says?

Boys
    are
          Prone
                      To
                   The
                          Voices
                                        Behind
                                                    Their
                                                               Mirrors
If you read it twice, you will understand the language of darkness,
A fearful image of mans' destination.
Read the next page, what does it says?


           Girls
                         Are
                                 Like
                                        Fingers
                                                  Combing
                                                          For
                                                              Words
                                                                     Admist
                                                                     Of
                                                                     Their
                                                                         Britches

                           
Then how do you write yourself into a reply question?