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Enitan Doherty-Mason

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Mothers
Fulfilled
The God of Nigeria
Contracts and Bonds
Lost in Roles
Foolish Old Man
How I Lost My Friend
INTERDEPENDENCE is Living Free
Too Much Love: Favorite Child
Home of Power, Magic and Disempowerment

Mothers.

One cannot hold an egg with arms of steel
One cannot hold an egg in a tight fist
A precious bird is best set free
The song of a caged bird is never as sweet

Love cannot be forced, bought or sold
A listening ear far exceeds a lifetime of pleas

Fulfilled

Bury me deep when I die.
Bury me deep in rich red Nigerian soil.
Bury me on a rainy day.
No umbrellas, if you please.
Don't close my eyes.
Don't stuff my ears.
Just set my lips to a smile
I would have lived the way I pleased.
will still be watching,
And listening,
And laughing.
I will still be loving...
the sound of the pounding rain in May,
the dryness of harmattan in December,
the crowing of the rooster in the mornings,
the call to worship from the mosques.
Leave my rings on my fingers.
Leave shoes on my feet.
But bury me deep
So I won't forget
The state I'm in.
I intend to enjoy my death as much as I enjoyed living!

The God of Nigeria

Lagbaja told Temedu
That the way our fathers’ worshiped
Is no longer good enough.
Awo! (Taboo)
Lagbaja told Temedu
That Christians know one God
And Muslims another
Iro! (Lies)
Lagbaja told Temedu that until
We adopt his ways we do not know God.
Iku! (Death)
Lagbaja told Temedu that we have no culture
Except when it fits into Lagbaja’s cognitive frame
Ope! (Fool)
Lagbaja told Temedu that we are not brothers
Because we speak using different words
Though we relay the same message
Ede aiyede (confusion)

Stop. Wait one moment.
Is Lagbaja a liar or is he simply ignorant?

Nigeria’s deity
Sees neither Christian, Muslim nor Animist
Nigeria’s “God” accepts all
All his children.
We need not be confused
All are children of the one Father
We know we are brothers
That we must not question.

Lagbaja is sometimes confused
Even in his bid to help
He is only human…
We must not forget that!
He is blinded by his humanity
By his very own culture
He struggles with the log in his eye
While he tries to help
Remove the speck in ours
Come brother,
Let us accept Lagbaja as he is
Let us work together
His thread has been woven into our very existence
Each one of us is responsible for the life we live

Contracts and Bonds

Child of my loins
Pot of deliverance
A name is important. Oruko se pataki.
A motherless child dies innumerable deaths.
Had I died to birth you, would that have been the end?

I did not abandon you.
I shed my blood over you at birth.
I writhed in pain until you were born.
You must not abandon me.
You must NEVER abandon me.

I did not abandon you.
Not even when the pain seemed unfathomable
Not even when they watched to see who would survive
“Mother or child?” I heard them ask.
What sin is it now that makes you think of abandoning me?

Lost in Roles

I have been someone’s daughter, someone’s sister.
I have been someone’s wife, someone’s mother.
I have been someone’s friend and someone’s lover
I have been someone’s helper and someone’s worker.
Forever more, I choose to be me.

Foolish Old Man

Some now call him a foolish old man.
Yet, in his youth he was none the wiser.
Where were you in his youthful days?
Why do you now speak when his days are done?
Yes. It is true that foolish young men become foolish old men.

How I Lost My Friend

My Friend is human
No one told me so
She wants what I want and can’t say so
Those very words would scare us both
She’ll do what she has to
To keep what I drop
My friend is so human.

Now that I understand
That she is as human as I
What shall I do?
She sticks closer than a sister
She is truly my friend
She is my friend and I love her just so
But my friend is human, my very own friend.

No cause for alarm?
No reason for sorrow?
No reason for tears?
My friend is just human !
Now there’s more caution than trust.
The way of adulthood takes over
Now that childhood is lost.
Can’t adulthood retain the heart of a child?

INTERDEPENDENCE is Living Free

I do not have
to own everything.
I do not have
to strive endlessly.
I release myself
to enjoy
what others
willingly give
to me
as other people are
to benefit
from what
I have to give.

There is no forcing
No coercion
No manipulating
No enslaving
No controling
No obligations.

There is
Only tolerance
And understanding
And caring
And loving
And valueing
And appreciating

In my interdependent world
I'm living free.
I'm free
to give
to accept
I Am Free.

Too Much Love: Favorite Child

Mama…
Mama is domineering!
Mama wants to live her life, my life and yours
Mama believes this is the way it should be.
Mama can’t say, “Child. I was wrong.”
Instead she chides, “What else do you want?”
To admit that she’s wrong is to appear weak.
She can’t have that.
Mama thinks a gentle tongue will spoil a child.
Mama wants you to find her love in all she does.

Mama’s love is doled out excessively.
She craves what she gives.
She gives what she craves… only in excess
Mama starves you of what you really need.
She does for you what you can already do.
Mama teaches and re-teaches and won’t let go.
Help! My Mama’s love is suffocating me.

Mama cannot understand
That my life is not hers.
She only sees ingratitude
For my limited thanks.
Mama cannot see that she’s killing me.
Could this really be love?
Mama loves so excessively

Mama wants to give me what she lacks.
Oh! Help me Lord!
This is not what I need.
Mama just loves me so excessively

Mama really wants to know what’s going on…
Believing that other people’s children share their every thought.
Why would anyone want to carry the weight of the world?
Mama loves me so excessively.

Mama’s curiosity where her children are concerned
Is rather overwhelming and a cause for alarm.
Mama sees nothing but pure motherly concern.
Mama loves me so excessively.

Mama has more than only me.
I’m all grown up, but she can’t see.
I’m still Mama’s baby. Can’t you see?
Mama’s chosen a favorite. And that’s poor old me.
Now, I’m terminally afflicted with Mama’s love.
But Mama just loves me so excessively.

Home of Power, Magic and Disempowerment

Homeland.
Land of magic
Land of power wielded mercilessly
Land of politics and fiery rivalry
Land where wealth is squeezed out of poverty
Land of denials
Land of Ifa, Jesus, Mohammed and the born again
The bleeding eye of God on God’s own continent
Land of unyielding, yet eroding philosophies
Land of knowledge and blinding ignorance
Free and wild
Prison land
Freedom Land
Autocratic Democracy
Homeland