October 18, 2020Too Much Wahala in This Country
Wahala if you are a bystander, watching
the protest from afar; hands tucked in pockets
Wahala if a stray bullet finds a home in
your bones, or your liver
Wahala if you come to lend bass to protest
chants, & hired hoodlums turn it to bedlam
Wahala if you drive there with your Camry
& drive home with a cracked windshield
Wahala if you drive your car through a police
checkpoint at night. Wahala if the road is empty
Wahala if you are the young man behind
the wheels. Wahala if your head isn’t shaven
Wahala if you are nearby when a cop shoots
another cop. Wahala if they wash the blood
off their hands & bath you in it. Wahala if
there is no video evidence to towel you clean
Wahala if you don’t know bigwig lawmakers to
nick you from the jaws of torture
Wahala if police swear they didn’t nab you
Wahala if they actually did nab you & are lying
Wahala if you are already stewing in their belly,
writhing like upset intestines amongst others
in a dingy cell. Wahala if you are unfamiliar with
the smell of conc. piss and shit.
Wahala for your corpse that will never be buried
Wahala for the mother that won’t kiss your cold cheek
Wahala for the river that will eat you
Wahala here, wahala there. Wahala everywhere
But no wahala for the cop whose forefinger twitched
on the trigger like an apoplectic
Wahala for government running out of tricks;
for thinking they can SWAT at us like flies,
Wahala that they do not know their harsh blowings
have stirred wisps of smoke where slumbering
tinder nest once lay. Wahala that they do not
realize they are making dragons out of us
Note: Wahala is Nigerian pidgin for “trouble.”
from Poets Respond