Two Poems|Oloyede Michael Taiwo
A box of epiphanies
A bird sprinkles poops of luck on your head,
you winked and blurted out a cough
tripping on your canvas over a cylinder of ire
the bird chirped a spool of cackles
the same way little Joe sprinkled some pee
on your clothes in his bassinet with a smirk
that sheds goose bumps on your skin
Your teeth opens like a jar of icicles
you grovel at his frame glazed with sweetness
and squeezed tickles of warmth into his palm
but this bird deserves a sling the same way
every obstruction and incursion deserves a flip
except if they brought gusts of goodness
You remember the poignance of the moments that
Little Joe held your hands like a safe refuge
his eyes descended on your worries like clouds on mountains and gave sight to your taste bud for your patter of tiny feet before his yawn hinged on a sigh
trained his eyes on your picturesque chin
Scouring your face like a labyrinth of premonitions
but this poop, and the pee wet your guts with disgust
except for the memories they exhume of your sensei
talking hope into your soul at every incident of birds and babies throwing tantrums of succor from their waste ducts to ease your outlook of a new day or salvage a wretch from the throes of an already drifting life; so you brushed off the poop stain with your nose-bridge brought closer to your face and overrode your speculations, shopping for reckoning in your box of epiphanies
Veneer of dust
This body
this very body
this veneer of dust
nestling in dreams of gold
bridling storms with a yoga mat
this grass
pruned by dumbbells
ropes and skips
crunched by squats
and jumping jack
for this flat tummy goals
expleting sonorous moans,
sultry high
to trawl her specs with a wink for obese quids
lack luster hands clutched on exotic bags with the hole of a mandolin
filed fingers liming the cesspool of a buckling self esteem
her world is a sorry patch
eyes on the prize
_La grande dame blanc
a fairy welcome to the river of concupiscence
first you bend before you lap,
toss some flesh to the gram
swoon in a bathtub of Veuve Clicquot
to whet the blade of thirsty schlongs
this glorious puff of a Nubian swan
thrust by the scalpel of ends and scarce
gauntlet of shimmering abs thrown into the wild
minced on the skewer of gluttony
tangled in the crass of spotlights
this decrepit hut of luxury hewed from the logs of avarice,
built to slay
Photo by Ramez E. Nassif on Unsplash
Bio
Oloyede Michael Taiwo is a poet, storyteller, copywriter, scriptwriter, screen-writer spoken-word artiste, playwright, producer and philomath. He has appeared on different TV and Radio stations propagating the gospel according to poetry and holding conferences on politics and economic issues.
He wrote and produced the play, ‘Wrinkles, dimples, naira and bets’, during the Lagos Theatre Festival, 2020, in partnership with the British council.
He has performed in several literary events and one of the largest gospel concert in Lagos – Cross Concert.
Also, he curates diverse didactic and literary events, such as: Learning with celebrities’ conference, Lagos poetrython, Fireflies & Bumblebees and the Lagospoetrython spoken word academy.
He has been shortlisted for the Etisalat prize for Flash fiction and long listed for the Quramo writer’s prize for literature.
