I am finally back in Warri. It is wet but it is not muddy. The noise of a lawn mower batter my thoughts as I write this. Again I wonder, why am I here?
There's no electric power. There has been no electric power for two years in this my part of town. Everybody is used to it now. Once it is 7pm, power generating sets will come on and the drone of engines will follow me all over my dream until 12am when even the small ones will go to rest. What was I thinking?
Now I wonder why I left Benin, why I left Abuja, what I thought I would find here in Warri. It feels so empty, so the same, so bland. I think I have made a mistake. I think that the
Grasses on concrete
Wave between the balls
Of mad men speculating
On the oily newspaper
That says that the roads are good,
That there are jobs in the city,
That there's light, life in the city.
The street lights are robbed
Of light and life
And now they stand
Like retirees
Waiting for the pension
Promised last year
To be given posthumously
On the corpse of forgotten names
And stale memories.
Grasses on asphalt
Hug the cracked facade
Of this forgotten space.
Signs still calling to the past;
A peeling, moss encrusted,
Yellow telephone booth,
A fire engine rusting peacefully
Like old men chewing tobacco,
A water tank standing phallic
But lacking semen to water
The throat of today.
This is my home. The only one I truly know. I have been away from this pain for too long and now it feels like I never left, like I will never leave. Everybody is trying to leave but me. I am the only one who is returning like a prodigal.
I have tried different wombs but Warri has given me much and I have suckled of her breast for too long. I have become institutionalized in the blood of my city.
I am yet to take off my clothes. I am yet to unpack my bag. Maybe I'd take the first bus tomorrow back to Abuja and never return or maybe I'd just stay and see if somehow, I can find something akin to life, to light in this dark, dead city.
I think the whole choice is your to make, stay and effect change you want. Leave for a better life.
Exactly! I want to be a part of change, that is why I came back but I am just depressed with the view. It will get better though. Thank you
Sorry to interrupt in an unrelated way but.. We just had one of our players drop out of the IFC finals due to being too busy, and I offered to let him pick someone to play for him and he said I should pick, so I decided to pick the next highest ranked person and that's you.Hey @warpedpoetic !
Would you like a shot at the 158 steem and to take their spot in the finals?
The challenge is already.. 3 days in I think, so you only have 4 days to complete it. However a few people completed it all in 1 day, so I think you can do it.
Thing is you need a camera of some sort.. I'll leave the link below and you can check it out and let me know! And if you can't or don't want to please let me know as soon as you can, then I'll ask the next highest ranked person under you and see if they want a chance if you don't. Thanks for your time! And hope all is going well with you. :)
https://steemit.com/contest/@ifc/ifc-finals-first-round
Oh a camera? Will my phone camera suffice? I think I have seen a few posts on it already. I'll try my best @apolymask
Yep a phone camera will work! I think most if not all people are probably using phones.
So you're in then? If so. Good luck!! :)
It is hard to go home, I tried a couple of times, but could not stay, I am a wanderer. With my life and my job, I think the longest I ever lived in the same home has been 6 years.
Are the places you left, still a part of you? If you leave again will the new place be a part of you? I have moved and lived in many places, and all of them have left a part of themselves with me, and I carry a part of those locations and places with me always.
At times I would like to put roots down, and when I think about it, I really literally have put roots down in all the places I have lived from flowers to trees to memories. There is always new places to go and see, we go when the time is right, no regrets, we may leave behind some sorrows when we do leave, but we take with us other memories also.
You will be "Home", for as long as you need, then you will travel when you need. It is life.