Lagbaja has been taken We search so tey we tire But we can’t find him anymore The high places have been halted The raving sun blasts our bodies Tamodu has been beckoned home suddenly What killed him? Silence eats our voices Because we see them, but we can’t speak Akoba has followed Joshua, who was with his parents But has been stripped and imprisoned unjustly for 7 years Our pockets have been milked Come here! Who you be? Gba gbos Kasala haf burst!!! You wey fresh With what money? Yeye dey smell How will Ngozi say she works hard for this dough? You this small girl You be ashewo “I’m not! I have papers for my car, and I can show you my id” Tufia! A brute hand strikes hard on her face Even in the sad, cold walls Ngozi is festered upon by vultures Andrew never came home They don take am!! Hmmm was what the elders echo We fight for salvation But they say we are rude We shout, but they blast our hearts with bullets We fight for our freedom with voices But they smack us with tear gas and hot water When will salvation come? Because lowly we are not living In staggering hope for a better tomorrow We raise our placards in harmony to say End Police Brutality!!! End Bad Governance!!!
About the Poet
Dami Shittu is an unemployed Nigerian living in Lagos. She is a feminist and poet.
