Two Poems

Oritsegbemi Emmanuel Jakpa

Palm kernel

                                   -- for Tanure Ojaide

 
The red palm kernel
in between the squirrel teeth
is not a riddle. The song from the throat
of the canaries contains secrets.
My late grandmother never knew
how to swim. But on market days,
she would go and buy cocoyams,
paddling a canoe over River Ethiope
 from Aghalokpe to Jesse town.
She had a cassava farm
to make her own gari.
She knows a lot about the river.

***

Growing

Packing to my new house,
I'm taking only
what’s needed.

No more use for these old papers
that have come & nested
in my folder over the years.

Birthday cards that tell
of the clock yawning
then falling asleep in the forest.

Worn out clothes, shoes,
that speak of growing up
and an opened padlock.

Things I once cherished,
like my skin, start to fall away
into the trash can.

Oritsegbemi Emmanuel Jakpa was born in Warri, Nigeria, and currently lives in Ireland.
jakorem@yahoo.com

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