House Rent Poem by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu

The rent is due when the rains
Are due, in line with difficult
Seasons when windows shut
Themselves off the sputtering
Showers accompanying dread.
The heart is hollow from rebukes
That taunt gaunt shadows
Whose own calendar sifts the
Days, coarse and cold, from the
Nights, humid and unctuous.
The tired lion sends out messages
On a gilded platter, to lame bipeds
Hiding from the banters of ceaseless
Winter...
House rent goes up or comes down
Depending on the age of the rent.