My stop on the #ChangeBook tour…with a poem

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my stop on the #ChangeBook tour also known “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

Today I will be introducing you to “Of Lizard Skin And Dust Storms” by Inua Ellams.

Enjoy!

“Of Lizard Skin And Dust Storms” by Inua Ellams

of all the things I left behind
of fresh suya and fura de nunu
of harmattan winds and dust-thick evenings
of cattle pastures and dried bush meat
of sand-dune sunsets and ever-warm springs
of Muslim fathers and Christian mothers
of Christmas hymns and Eid al-Fitrs
of morning prayers and exercise books
of first days and nursery schools
of goat’s milk and mathematics
of plantains and punctuation
of low angles and hanging fruit
of catapults and mango trees
of swollen stomachs and sticky fingers
of sick beds and feasting mosquitoes
of malaria and chloroquine
of soaked roots and boiled leaves
of old ways and remedies
of flickering lightbulbs and empty generators
of plunging nights and soupy darkness
of hurricane lamps and shadow play
of folk stories and firelight
of wild imaginations and feverish delight
of delirium and sweat-drenched slumber
of ancestral belonging and deep lineage
of wet earth and open wombs
of warm swamps and slow silence
of twilight and quiet songs
of rebirth and easy breeze
of gentle dawns and strengthening fists
of bright worlds and parched tongues
of sunlight and flowing curtains
of boredom and twitching fingers
of catapults and new fruits
of all the lessons I never learned
of the child of chaos I once was
of the man I’ve become.