Why I Dress The Way I Dress Poem by Adookorn Auaduma

do you know the reason
i wear face cap all the time

do you know the reason
i put on lens all the time

do you know the reason
i put on jackboot all the time

if you know, you will wonder

how we betrayed their clay at last -
they who were lynched for their right
embalmed with corrosive acid of hate

if you care, the Ogoni 9 will tell you

i have malign sore on my head
that influences the way i reason -
to love the nipping incense of yoke

if you know, you will wonder

how we gossiped their corpse at last -
they who were murdered in their homes
their cadavers burnt to eerie ashes

the Ogoni 4 will tell you

i have cataract in my eyes
cloaked in black lens, hence
can't see the wave of weight

if you know, you will wonder

how we despised their remains at last -
they who were drown in the sea
their carcasses as meal for hungry sharks

the 300 Ogonis will tell you

i step my foot on sand of yoke;
with heavy legs of elephantiasis
it's boring to stand up for my right

but i had a dream -
the puissant warrior sun
hurl down the retral mountain

if only we regain our reasoning now
if only we recover our lost sight now
if only we rise up for our right now!