compilations

Sugarcane
Remilekun: Everything seems to amuse Silifat. It is as though the wind tickles her, even in its stillness.

Aduni: Always smiling to herself.

Labake: She speaks her words in a sing-song manner.

Aduni: She walks as if she is in a dance procession. She must be hearing music inaudible to all others.

Remilekun: is it not obvious to you?

Labake: what should be so obvious?

Remilekun: what is the one thing that makes a woman’s eyes comparable to polished glass, even eyes that have seen the worst of predicaments?

Labake: It must be the same thing that makes a woman exudes satisfaction.

Aduni: Ha! SUGARCANE!! How can I be so slow? Silifat! Please come. Make me happy. You must tell me so I can also be affected with amusement.

Silifat: Tell you what?

Aduni: Do not pretend. We know you are harvesting plantain.

Silifat: Aduni, you speak in parables.

Remilekun: There are no children here, Silifat I know it is only a man that can make a woman act drunk on a glass of water. And you my dear have been thirsty for a long time.

Silifat: Aunty Remi, there is more to drinking than quenching ones thirst. But you are right, it concerns a man. Aduni, I have feelings I have never known I am capable of. It is as though my heart is so light, it flutters, yet it is so full I think it might burst. I am yet to understand my body.

Remilekun, Aduni and Labake: Silifat is in love!

Silifat: and it feels so good. No man has made me feel this way. He holds my hands and not my breasts. He cups my face in his hands and not my buttocks. I have never met a man that respects my body so. This is new to me. I have been handled and dealt with but none has touched me as this man. And when I first loosed my wrapper for him, he said to me, “Silifat there is no hurry.” I ask myself could this be the love that sister mi Remi warned me about?

Remilekun: My dear, there is love and there is love. The issue is no one would agree on another name to differentiate one from the other.

Silifat: So tell me, which type of love is this?

Remilekun: There is the love that brings you relief and there is the love that brings you trouble.

Silifat: How do I know I am not in trouble?

Labake: I know about trouble but for me it was worth it.

Aduni: Being a married woman loving a man that was not your husband, for you, Labake it would be worth it since you were the cheat frolicking with the forbidden. What trouble did you see when you had the pleasure and your husband the pain?

Labake: Aunty Aduni, what makes you think that the burden of guilt is easier than the pain from betrayal? What makes you think that guilt is less punitive than any other pain? I tell you, in infidelity, the punishment often comes with the eating and afterwards. Aunty Aduni have you not been with a husband that was not yours?

Aduni: I have also been with a cheating husband. I’ll tell you I would rather feel guilty.

Remilekun: Silifat, forget them, tell me how this all begun.

Silifat: for me, it all started at the waterfall

Labake: At Erin-Ijesha? Has that place not been the start of many love affairs?

Silifat: ten years I have lived here in Erin-Ijesha and only last month I first climbed up the seven levels of the waterfall. He lead and I followed. To my amazement the top of the waterfall was a flat ground with many trees and nothing else but open skies with silver clouds. I thought the water came from an oracle of some sort bellowing out words that turned to rain and if it were to be less dramatic than that at least I expected a river cut in half.
He said tiny drops of water are collected by leaves and stones from cloud dews. The droplets fall to the ground and find each other and together trickle through dirt, mud, rocks and tree roots. They gather continuously and form great movement and energy. Only from being spread out do they gather and return to the sky clean and clear.
He said this is like the journey of woman on earth. He said a woman visits the earth white from pure heights. He said her very first steps upon touching the earth brought color to the flowers and fruit to the trees. She brought humanity to man and salt to earth. “But it is not all glorious for her,” he said. Like the droplets she too will lose herself and will not remain white. Her journey will be laborious. She must lose herself only to find herself.
He said to me, “Silifat please let me walk with you. Let me be with you as you find yourself. I can only but become with you.” I tell you, I have never heard such words or known such a man! You tell me, am I in trouble?

Remilekun: He seems to be a knowing man. I do not know him but he has won me over. Such words could get me drunk in abstinence. He cannot be from around here. Silifat please who is this man?

Silifat: you have all met him before. It is Adamu.

Labake: Which Adamu? Is it the trader?

Silifat: yes

Aduni: Adamu the albino?

Silifat: yes

Labake: Adamu, Subomi’s husband?

Silfat: yes

Aduni, Remilekun and Labake: You are in trouble!


the red scar desperately labake

convert of a jagged cross

The Convert
What quicker way is there to make a believer out of a man?
A woman!
It is in her stride,
The way her hips sway with each step,
It is in her eyes,
Even when she never looked at him,
It is in the bulge of her breasts,
Although they are carefully disguised in layers of fabric,
It is in her small delicate hands,
The way she holds the loom and weaves beautifully patterned fabrics,
It is in her laughter,
That exposes the gap between her teeth, that makes her lisp when she speaks,
It is her way with words,
Every conversation confirmed her belief in one creator,
It is the way she listens,
She tilts her head slightly, what a graceful neck!
Most of all,
It is in her presence,
That makes him loose his ability to speak, keeping him in awe of her.

She was a Muslim and he was anything that could bring him profit. He approached her family to ask what was required of him to become husband to her. Three simple things they said. The first, he and his household which includes almost two wives must observe the Islamic faith, their daughter will not live among heathens; the second, he must pay a hefty sum in bride price; the third, he must remit the first two as quickly as possible. He was not the only to show interest in her.
It all seemed easy. He was ready to convert and more than ready to sell off all he had even if it included his two daughters. He hissed when he remembered they were too young to be useful to him. He has almost two wives because his first wife left him with the daughter they shared for a rich widower when he decided to bring home a second wife. Now his second wife could be the only obstacle in his path. The thought of Ajantola clawing his eyes out in protest put reasonable fear in him.
What is the easiest way to make a believer out of woman? He was not wise enough to know. He had told Ajantola that they would be attending the Friday prayers in the local mosque. Passive Ajantola trailed behind without asking a single question. As they approached the building, she saw many men outside, washing their hands, feet and behind their ears. It seemed odd to her. Her husband directed her to the women’s section.
As she walked in, she realized why she had reluctantly left her slippers outside the door, the floors were swept clean. The room was tidy and everyone in it seemed clean and quiet. She joined them sitting on the praying mats. Some were counting beads and some were counting their fingers. A loud voice came in through the speakers, “Olorun o to bi!” and with a harmonized response, all exclaimed, “Alawuhakbar!”
With synchronized uniformity, they all stood on their feet. She joined them in standing, kneeling, bowing and sitting. She had never been a part of orderliness. The seemingly piety bowled her over.
Ajantola attended the next Friday prayers with her daughter Silifat.

What certain way is there to make a believer out of a woman?
The reward for belief?
The promise of good fortune?
The healing of the womb?
Peace in the afterlife?
A home in the here and the beyond?
The protection against evil and its doers?
For Ajantola, it was all and the thought that it would keep her husband to herself.

blue in the face

once a gazelle