Pray, the childhood places
That now appear stark
Sans shine, sans sheen –
Did the years wear out the sheen
Or the wool got pulled
From our infantile eyes?
Pray, the spaces that be now contracted
Like some terrestrial tummy-tuck:
Where lies the suctioned fat?
How about the trees
That glided past infantile eyes
From rear seats of speeding autos peeping aghast –
Wherefore stand they all still now?
O what a cheat adulting is
On the Technicolor dreamland
That is childhood.
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Mike is the winner of the inaugural Harambee Literary Prize and the author of the new story collection Soul Lounge. He has been published in many journals, including The First Line, Mysterion, African Writer Magazine, Bridge Eight, Drunk Monkeys, Rigorous, and The African Roar Anthology. After leaving the Nigerian federal public service as a director, he works as a freelance book editor and speechwriter.
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This Poem was published in the June 2024 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – Sorry to my Inner Child – A Poem by Troy Benjamin – Nigeria
