Second-Class Citizens Poem by Eche Ononukwe

In that tattered-maggot-infect’d building;

building with ageing documents, machines not working,

I see those tough monkeys in uniform –

uniform of our national anthem,

which they have made to weapons of harassment,

frowning at us as if they know us not:

“What is your occupation? ’

‘You resist’d arrest? ’
‘You threaten’d the life of that man? ’

‘You’re a dangerous criminal? ’

Such are how they query us,

letting us not to utter any defence of our own,

before we find ourselves in a cell

where our already-tortured ribs are exposed to maggots.