🔁 Benita ozoffor ReCircled: THE WHISPERS OF MY INNER CHILD

Benita ozoffor
@benitaozoffor
6 days ago

Ohh!! my wistful memoir,
I miss dawn we bath outside
in our mother's big basin
Splashing foaming water to make bubbles
as we laugh sheepishly,
shining our missing front tooth
School was our spot; to prank pals April fool…
And share five kobo sweets with dirty hands

The bell calls for games under the jealous sun
Boys played football with empty can,
Girls picked Súwell, claped Ügaa with besties
Toddlers did hide and seek with water gun
The joy that bloom our bond echoes from the school walls

I miss the noon we plunk unripe Oranges
and Mangoes from unknown paradise
Hiding our crime under our big polo
Then, our prom union came with the rain;
As we face heavens with wide jaws
for drops of blessings

Our weekend homework is for unfinished gossip,
And our saliva served as superglue
Ripping the middle of our notebook for
sheet-ships
UP NEPA!!!, we scream,
dismissed to watch our favorite cartoon.

I miss the dusk, that opens our streetlight -
to kill loneliness with our playtime
The sound of crickets enjoin us
into our ancestral game;
“Kpakpangölò kpakpangölò úgene”
Chasing one another in circle
under the garment of the moonlit.

Yes!, xmas season mark my best layoff
Time we lit knock-out, blow balloon, and beg money
As we parade our oversized outfit like freeing beings
Lauding to eat chicken legs and wings
Till the day adulthood caught up on us.

__________________________________________


Native language (their meaning & representation )

* Súwell - a game played by jumping drawn square (house) on the bare ground.
* Ügaa - a femininely Igbo game played by clapping hands and moving legs in guessing.
* Kpakpangölò kpakpangölò úgene - An old Igbo traditional practice/ games played at night chasing one with stick.


SHORT DESCRIPTION:
One fundamental thing that inspired this poem is the display my playfulness and authenticity, which often trigger my childhood memories. When I was lad, i lived a free life in my natural state and grew in light to be true to myself (even it means to be different). Another fundamental factor that inspired by poem are friends and siblings. Spending time with them reminds me how time flies while our memory hang in the balance, feeling like nothing has change. Their innocence is still written in their smile and their laughter brings back my nostalgia.


Photo credit: opera mini

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