TWO HOMES ARE BETTER THAN ONE

January 19 2017 , Written by Ofem Ubi & Felicia Otop Published on #poetry

His sleep gets interrupted by the alarm of tears gushing out from mother’s eyes

And in conscious ignorance he walks to the scene

As he sees her drowning in a pool of her own salty liquid

And in a bid to become a hero he joins the already befallen

For years he had known dad’s only way of communication was the language of the fist

A dialect he was way so fluent with

And he had grown accustomed to it

As he grew tough skin and his glands were no more blood but void longing to be filled with love he’s been long starved of

And so he was raised with the mini idea that women were nothing but apprentices of perfection

So he treated them like economy class on a ferry

Told that manhood was defined by the broadness of his biceps

And though mom in her little ways tried to bend this back of hardness

It was no way near possible as he became indestructible iron

Two homes are better than one

For the joy that flows from one source lacks sufficiency to sustain cradle minds in need of inner peace

So this goes out to the domestic warriors

To the men who make their wives modern day battle fields

And to the women who make their husbands involuntary commentators

Shattering the puzzled mind of the seeds called children that stare at them daily

Make amends

EMOTIONAL VIOLENCE – FELICIA OTOP
You hit me hard where no one can see
You batter my body with no physical mutilation
With no physical trace of you violating me, makes them feel I am just fine
You sexually abuse me by laying with me with no emotions
You just lay me for your lustful satisfaction
I had to agree to lay with you because the society blames me for your infidelity
Telling me it is my obligation to satisfy your lust
Even as I lay with you, you still lay with others
As no one can ever satisfy you
I cry from within where no one hears me
I scream from the part of me that no one sees
With that silent voice that is so loud only from within
I cried for help to you, though you are my violator
You violate me yet I come to you to help me
To help me set myself free from you
My cry is sweet to your heart and my pain becomes your gain
Though you claim you love me
Yet your love makes my heart bleed
Bleeding from the wounds that your hardened soul has inflicted in me
My being is shattered from within
As I stretched to full length
Even beyond all my strength
Trying to reach out to you
I stretched until I could stretch no more
As you keep moving each time I almost got to you
I am now a waned elastic that is breaking
As the intensity of my stretch towards you has weaned off
How do you do this, when you look so calm, cool and loving
You are deception as you neglect my inner being
Like a tender baby dumped in a waste site
You silently, without words tell me I am worthless
Your actions speaks to me, yet your lips are silence
Your actions are so loud, louder than words
You choked my being into doing all you want
Making me your slave in silence
Don't tell anyone you say
Let's keep our issues to ourselves
Who will save me when they don't see my pain
Who will mend my mutilated being
The society does not see my wounds because you injure only my heart
So they don't pursue the course that enslaves me as I die from within
You don't want me to stand up for what I believe in
You just desire I stand up for your selfish desires
By appraising yourself centeredness
To make you my lord
But you forget you were also created like me
I speak for all silent voices facing violence without physical mutilation
Speak up and hold not your peace
For if you keep silence you will die in your trauma
And everyone will say
REST IN PEACE