Devotion: Ojo Taiye

a found poem

at my grandmother’s house sits a shrine to our ancestors   every morning, my grandmother kneels & prays   she closes her eyes & hums tunelessly, lighting sticks of incense    the air fills with their heady scent   i don’t know what she asks our ancestors for, but since she began this daily ritual, there has been a change in her— she— a harvest moon carving its boon alongside a pearled sky   & whenever i visit home for Tet or our ancestor’s death anniversary, i kneel and pray too   i hold the incense & close my eyes, & for a few moments i am weightless

To read this and more work by Taiye, order the drr issue of Ritual here.

Ojo Taiye is a young Nigerian uses poetry as a handy to write his frustration with society.

 

 

 

 

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