but what is progressiveness
if we want more?
of what use is altruism
when we are able to garner
through greed
& avarice?
this tapestry
overwhelms me,
it should you too
because,
people talk.
they talk about how slow
time ebbs…
how little there is
to be earned.
in the end,
we all have our fair share
of breakdowns.
strokes, cancer, depression,
seizures, religion…
sometimes conditioned by seasonal
brevities, climatic change,
love—the Nigerian sun.
more often than not,
man makes man mad.
he plunges him to the abyss.
a man can
wake up from all things,
but not betrayal. that one leaves
its vestiges in his pride.
& yet, these gory details
are not even enough
to make the eye piss.
they are but a paltry
of what makes humanity
derisive. what makes God
laugh. what makes us
tolerate capitalism;
what makes a man leave
remnants of food for his
little ones; even when
satisfaction isn’t in question.
hang in there, my fellow
earthling. for it is yet another day
for the cyclical routine of
living.
Prosper Ifeanyi is a writer and student of English and Literary Studies, Delta State University, Abraka. His work has been published/or forthcoming in Afrocritik, Anotearthub, Kalahari Review, The Temz Review and elsewhere. He is the founder and co-editor of OneBlackBoyLikeThat Review, a literary blog which curates and publishes works of art all over Africa. You can find him on Facebook as: Prosper Ifeanyi; on Twitter as @prosperifeanyii; and on Instagram as @prosperifeanyii.
