Songs of Anisha
“The African Writer is a Painter,”
by Dela Bobobee
If writing is like painting in words
and being an African is being a warrior
whose true valour lies in sensibilities
on the battlefield of life’s hybridation
then I am proud to be an African writer
striving to remix colours of perturbation
whose continuing saga remains unbiased
But if my Africaness is viewed as lens
to see life as fair and humanity as foul
then let those who judge me daily with bias
use equity parameters to see justice in nature
and should not wince when the table turns
for the world is like farming on a mountainside
when you peep at your neighbour’s buttocks
someone else beneath you is peeking at yours
painting with unknown colours can be torturous
when our repertoire is blurred in strange tongues
like a distress ship in uncharted chaotic waters
whose tumult is redefining and brazing trails
and broken fragments of an edifying entity
the race may not be for the swift who maim
scorn at those who lag on the same footing
the world is like the skin of the chameleon
and life is like a tide in prodigal floodwaters.
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