Oloibiri Poem by Tony Adah

A sleeping town of yore
Where my country struck
Its first oil
Are you still in a slumber?
Or awake cleaning smudges
From your eyes
I like looking at your face
You global orphan of a rich world.

Oloibiri
Still squalor and penury
Are growing like a dough
Eating an innoculant of yeast.

In the ordure that oil has brought
Your rivers and streams are putrid with slicks
And your livelihood is doomed
In the midst of nature's endowed bounties
The pathos of your times
Are brimming with your absent needs
And in the middle of the ocean
You stand with soapsuds
In your eyes.

The things around you
Are a gory sight to behold
You look famished
When your stomach
Ought to be paunchy with food
You're mourning
When you should be rerejoicing
Yawning when you should smile
Gropping where there
Ought to be light
In a great irony
Of your wealth.