Winds | by Oyin Oludipe

After Wole Soyinka's "Ploughshares"

Mañes Rubio

This is against all fierce obsessions of ideology, the murderous demeanour of a ruthless incarnation. They are winds of our modern decay.

A vibrant arc rages to bullet,

Rages arc bullet into winds

In fears from bullet and rage

And winds enslave, and winds unearth the heave

Of futile rites, winds exalt

The gory feast of throats, exhume

Concealed hate as foolishly sprung.

Winds hoist proud voices of folly,

Fury leap of urea conceit, track demise

In repute, prescribe on lichen-earth

Of vain blood. Winds may warp

In strange litany, pray sanctions from

Ethereal lust – an eye for a myth

Mourning loss in spite, graveyards

For a mass crusade – the consolation

Of a silent table is broken by thirst

On pillage wells.

And winds enchain, and winds enact peals

Of accord, winds deform

Paths of a lost traveler.