I am not your mother, oh country

but I’ll wash you clean.
Bring me the bath water and soap,
I’ll have to wash you
off my skin
         off my tongue
                  off my marrows,
till you transform into a scum-flow
I’ll trap in a bath bowl,
un-forgetting to spill the water and the baby
into a memory of dross.
         I am not your mother, oh country.
I. am. not. your. mother.
I can’t hold you to my bosom daily while
you drill daggers at every inch of my thorax.

 Shedrack Opeyemi Akanbi is a Nigerian, believer, and dreamer. He is currently reading for a B.A in History and International Studies at the University of Ilorin. His writings have appeared on Praxis Magazine, Kalahari Review, The African Writers, The Lagos Review, EroGospel, and elsewhere.