poems.pdf

Poems by Niyi Osundare
University of New Orleans
Random Blues
(Census Blues, Naijiria 2007))
People of our land
Know how many we are?
I ask, people of our land
Know how many we are?
The Counting Agents have come and gone
Their counting magic is supremely rare
Cows make the book
In some regions
Yes, cows make the book
In some regions
Their hoofprints purple with power
They tilt the scale in their bovine legions
In other areas goats bleat
Their way into the numbers
Say, in other areas goats bleat
Their way into the numbers
Their droppings swell the figures
Being so proud as our nameless members
The numbers stay put
In some parts
Yes, the numbers stay put
In some parts
No births, no deaths in ten years
Wondrous numerals on the blinking charts
In other areas
The figures swell
Indeed, in other areas
The figures swell
Beyond every rate, beyond every reason
As if by some dark, uncanny spell
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