{"id":6220,"date":"2019-01-17T15:46:58","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T15:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/?p=6220"},"modified":"2020-07-11T15:13:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T15:13:24","slug":"ode-on-a-rocky-homeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode on a Rocky Homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one comes from where I come from<\/span><\/p>\n

No soul one single season on the soil survives<\/span><\/p>\n

And stays soft \u2013 snail-soft simpleton or dumbbell-soft<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, you can’t come from where I come from and get soft<\/span><\/p>\n

Rock-hard land, rocky soil growing timber, where to breathe<\/span><\/p>\n

You wrestle, like Jacob, poor soul wrestling for a blessing <\/span><\/p>\n

Striding barefoot, combing forests<\/span><\/p>\n

Day by day, dawn to dusk<\/span><\/p>\n

Hewing hills, cracking granite with bare teeth<\/span><\/p>\n

Raiding caves, hot breath blowing trees<\/span><\/p>\n

Wrestling fairies \u2013 resident fairies<\/span><\/p>\n

Resident in the air<\/span><\/p>\n

In hills, in trees.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can’t come from where I come from<\/span><\/p>\n

And go soft; rock-hard soil growing timber<\/span><\/p>\n

Where you wrestle to live, combing forests barefoot<\/span><\/p>\n

Flitting from valley to mountain, fighting fairies<\/span><\/p>\n

Chewing blazing coals, spitting volcanoes<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing demons, fixing sphinxes<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Elijah, or the Baptist<\/span><\/p>\n

Fighting, scrambling<\/span><\/p>\n

Child of struggle, born of battle<\/span><\/p>\n

Man and bird jostling for windfalls<\/span><\/p>\n

Watched over by giant rats on sentry duty<\/span><\/p>\n

Palace-powered sentries tending junctions<\/span><\/p>\n

Pious hunters everywhere, fondling charms<\/span><\/p>\n

Raking cash, creating wealth for hangers-on.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You battle for wood<\/span><\/p>\n

You battle for food<\/span><\/p>\n

You battle for air<\/span><\/p>\n

Hot air hourly fouled by UFOs<\/span><\/p>\n

UFOs pouring oil on boiling hills<\/span><\/p>\n

You battle for life, fighting fairies<\/span><\/p>\n

Resident fairies \u2013 resident in space<\/span><\/p>\n

Sprinting, sweating, running errands<\/span><\/p>\n

For countless dads, countless mums<\/span><\/p>\n

And other kin you hardly know; you<\/span><\/p>\n

Scramble for light, you scramble for life<\/span><\/p>\n

In a cave so stuffy you wrestle to breathe<\/span><\/p>\n

Clay pot on your head like a weight of sin<\/span><\/p>\n

As you comb field after field for fallen fruits<\/span><\/p>\n

And dried out twigs, plying bush paths for water<\/span><\/p>\n

Drinking water springing from a communal brook<\/span><\/p>\n

Sacred brook that’s swimming pool and laundry bowl<\/span><\/p>\n

One sacred brook that’s sundry things to sundry beings.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day by day you visit the village square via the brook<\/span><\/p>\n

Via the farm, market and a potting shed named school<\/span><\/p>\n

Where you’re fed at the feet of cane-wielding teachers<\/span><\/p>\n

Hungry teachers teaching toothless souls to say ‘cheese!’<\/span><\/p>\n

Big trees yielding shade, green fruits hanging overhead<\/span><\/p>\n

Swinging, winking like deadly sins on Jezebel’s chest<\/span><\/p>\n

Your head spinning, ringing, warning bells ringing<\/span><\/p>\n

Pouring you pure panegyrics, praising your star<\/span><\/p>\n

Singing startling songs of your hopeless peers<\/span><\/p>\n

Countless cohorts in teeming cities trapped<\/span><\/p>\n

Of hopeless peers lost like silly hounds<\/span><\/p>\n

Of legions swept off to spirit planets<\/span><\/p>\n

Spirited off by drunken whirlwinds.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day by day you visit the potting shed named school<\/span><\/p>\n

Where you’re fed by famished teachers<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the shadow of mighty trees<\/span><\/p>\n

Green fruits winking<\/span><\/p>\n

Warning bells ringing<\/span><\/p>\n

Brittle breeze tickling your soul<\/span><\/p>\n

Mimicking plastic fans in foreign climes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day by day you’re taught to see the school in life<\/span><\/p>\n

Or teacher \u2013 cane-wielding schoolteacher <\/span><\/p>\n

Hard ground shaking you, shaping you<\/span><\/p>\n

Blast furnace yielding gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can’t come from where I come from<\/span><\/p>\n

And go soft; rock-hard soil growing timber<\/span><\/p>\n

Hard castle stood on solid rock, not quicksand<\/span><\/p>\n

Where, borrowing thunder’s fire and lightning’s<\/span><\/p>\n

Power, you pierce through rocks to taste honey<\/span><\/p>\n

Where you wade through fire to fetch water<\/span><\/p>\n

Fire-eater’s heaven where you’re judged by<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing but the fire in your bones, where<\/span><\/p>\n

Eyes trained on God, you’re trained to<\/span><\/p>\n

Chant: ‘In your own eyes stay small!’<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFOLU AGOI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No one comes from where I come from No soul one single season on the soil survives And stays soft \u2013 snail-soft simpleton or dumbbell-soft Yes, you can’t come from <\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nOde on a Rocky Homeland - Ake Arts & Book Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ode on a Rocky Homeland - Ake Arts & Book Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No one comes from where I come from No soul one single season on the soil survives And stays soft \u2013 snail-soft simpleton or dumbbell-soft Yes, you can’t come from Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ake Arts & Book Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-17T15:46:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-11T15:13:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/poetry.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@akefestival\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@akefestival\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080\"},\"headline\":\"Ode on a Rocky Homeland\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-17T15:46:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-11T15:13:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/poetry.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Poetry (Ake Review 2019)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ode-on-a-rocky-homeland\/\",\"name\":\"Ode on a Rocky Homeland - 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