The One Million Man Match Poem by Tony Adah

I wonder if I am alone taking a stare
At the vast sea
Those squalid swamps and stilthouses
Underneath, the fish breath lost
In lifeless float.
I see the sky wearing a blue shirt
And a white cap,
The rigs belch staining the garb
With their obnoxious fumes.

The women and the children
Wait in vain for the men
With fishless sacks
Where have the fish gone?
They're trapped in the den
Of death which oil has unleashed
The fishermen, the women and children
Are thirsty with throats parched
Drinking is postponed,
Until death does the final wetting.

When I hear the rumble of guns,
It's like the thunder of seaquals
I'm mistaken,
The owners who wallow in squalor
Have struck
They have gone to Abuja
To see the clear contrast
And since then
There has been no sleep.