Because they are Ìbejì

They are always two 
Numbered than a back 
Bizarre to front them
Because they are Ìbejì 

Buy two not one 
Paired not polar 
Divide equally 
Because they are Ìbejì 

Carol unremittingly 
Every night, a slick berceuse
Their apt opium 
Because they are Ìbejì

Beans and palm oil 
Ekuru and Aadun 
Their peculiar taste !!! 
Because they are Ìbejì 

I am not exclusive 
I cannot fly solo 
I am dyadic 
Ask for my partner 
Because I am a twin. 

©Taiwo Olaniyi, August,2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OVERSEER J.O Ọ̀JẸ̀LẸ́YẸ: OUR PARAGON OF EXCELLENCE

When I was offered admission into St. Patrick's Grammar School, Adenuga, Gbongan in 2004, my aunt who had attended the school earlier used to threaten me that the school principal, Prince Adébáyọ̀ Bínúyọ́, would beat my puerile naughtiness out of me. She would then cite innumerable instances that would definitely make one liable to receiving stinging strokes of cane from him. I would always cower in fear whenever she threatened me with these realities. But my grandmother would graciously dispel my fears in Yorùbá that 'Inú Bínúyọ́ máa yọ́ s'ọmọ mi' (Binuyọ́ will be pleased with my son).  Weeks into my admission to St. Patrick's (as it was popularly called then), I experienced these realities with him. He was on the one hand a bundle of awesomeness and on the other hand a wise and constructive disciplinarian when it came to such issues as students' truancy. He was a principal whose stance would crumble every form of academic infraction. I can still vividly rememb...
Read more

My Library

Image
                      MY LIBRARY   Ever since I read William Ellery Channing's words on books in Ben Carson's Think Big, I have developed voracious palate for books. Channing rightly posits that "it is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are true levelers. They give all who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race. " This assertion has had considerable influence on my literary enthusiasm, and I will forever crave the orgasmic fulfilment I get from reading books.  Although, I currently have in soft copies more than 8,000 books on my laptop, these are the titles of books that you ...
Read more

IT IS RIGHT BUT YOU ARE WRONG

Perhaps you've heard this cliché - it's not what you say but how you say it that counts  - a number of times but its reality has not dawned on you, learn from how I experienced it today. It was our occasional academic staff meeting today and I was assigned an additional role to the ones I have been doing with unbridled enthusiasm. I happily accepted it but forcefully rejected its schedule. That was my mistake!  The director strongly berated the reasons I provided for rejecting the role and assigned it to another capable person in my department.  To me, the reasons were right; to him I was wrong. They were right because they were about my expertise. I was wrong because I expressed them in the wrong way. It became obvious that it was in the wrong way when he sarcastically referred to me as the ' most intelligent person in the room.'  As a pragmatician, I knew the implications of that remark. So I went to a superior colleague to help me tender my sincerest apology. The ...
Read more