by Somto Rodney
We are taken by demons
Strip us to our skin, to our bones,
to our porcelain souls
Mount our chest,tear us down
‘Confess child! Confess!’
We wash in a lake for sins yet sinned
‘Confess child! Confess!’
Our tongue learns a different language.
Now come, come and see,
as in the dead of night, we come walking
For the father,
our fangs claw into their existence,
tasting their ebbing breathe
From their screams, we are born again.
Come, come and see,
For the mother,
we put bounties out on them,
we set our demons their scent
With their bones, we etch their names on our back.
Come, come and see,
For our porcelain souls,
we carve it out.
Somto Rodney is a poet living in Lagos. He likes the smell of freshly mowed grass.
On Instagram @rodney_writes.
