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Móníyà Station

by Salawu Olajide



I.

At the back of the yellow container

is the makeshift reception

for the dreamers waiting for the train

in this brown-roofed town.


The harmattan has not arrived,

but I can feel its breath far away

in the dryness of my lips

in the rattling of the leaves

in the breaking of my skin.


II.


We seek new roads for life here

because others are bruised with potholes

and children get drowned in their waters.


All of us are gathered this morning

to witness a new grace for my country

at this station that leads to the heart of Atlantic.


Across the sky, God makes faces

at us

as we stand apart

like pieces of Chinese characters.



SALAWU OLAJIDE is a lanky Nigerian man and an Àmàlà advocate. He thanks the Oxford Review of Books for featuring him.


Art by Maddy Clegg

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