POEM OF THE WEEK: REVOLUTION BY WANA UDOBANG October 15, 2020 – Posted in: Poetry – Tags: End Police Brutality, END SARS, Nigeria, Poem, Poetry, Revolution, Wana Udobang, Youths
We are currently experiencing a revolution in Nigeria. Youths are speaking up! Everyone is acting, tweeting, re-tweeting, protesting, donating!
What a time to be alive in Nigeria!
We have decided to begin a weekly poetry series. And it is only right that we begin with this powerful poem by Wana Udobang.
In her words – “This poem came to me at a time when I was deeply in need of affirmation.”
Enjoy!
REVOLUTION BY WANA UDOBANG
We are the unanswered dream you have been waiting for
We are the rebirth to you Shrunken spirit
We are Liquid gold and ferry dust
We are DNA, a tapestry of miracle, myth and magic
We are punching between ideas and dreams
We are connecting galaxies
We are weaving planets
We are multitasking
We are the inheritance of greatness
We are unlocking the blessings of our mothers’ tongues
We are carrying the universe in the chamber of our chest
We are made to walk on water
So if they ever tell you that this revolution will not be televised
Tell them that we stood at the foot of our ancestors calling ourselves back from the dead
Tell them that we are our grandmothers’ buried bones
Tell them that we have unknotted the silence binding our throats
Tell them that we are writing our memoirs in real time
So if they ever tell you that this revolution will not be televised
Tell them that we are the REVOLUTION!
Revolution: Filmed and edited by Abiola Sobo of Suss Productions
Produced by Lanre “Knightsabre” Oladimeji of Knighthouse Studios
If this poem made you feel POWERFUL, drop a comment!
Image by Kamnelechukwu Obasi
Wana Udobang is a storyteller and artist working at the intersection of writing, poetry, performance and film.Her poetry interrogates memory and re-imagination. She has three studio albums Dirty Laundry, In memory of forgetting and Transcendence. Her writing has appeared on the BBC, Aljazeera, The Guardian, Observer and other international media. Udobang’s video works include; Nylon, Warriors and the archival project Culture Diaries which documents the works of African artists.
She loves travel, food, wine, art and adventure.