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I am not your mother, oh country

by
on March 31, 2021
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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.