************** AM 'MAD' *****************

The reason why mad men go naked I do not know
All I do know is that, the sight of them reminds me that am mad .

The truth about this fact was hidden from me from birth
Until the first hair growth on my pubic region

My kinsmen forgot to whisper this truth to my ears
On the day of my naming ceremony.
They were only interested in drinking liquor, eating kola and dancing to the Ogene music
They left me to discover this truth myself

How this truth escaped the memory of my parents is what am yet to fathom .
Or could it be that, the midwife that delivered me forgot to tell them too ?

Am mad and nothing in this world matters to me any more save my paper and pen

Today is my father's funeral
I want to join the funeral procession
I want to pay my last respect to him
But I've been indoors since yesterday
Wrestling with my paper and pen

Don't cry for me because am mad
Reserve your tears
You'll need it when your father join his ancestors
Don't call the priest to pray for me
He too has his own madness to deal with

Just leave me in my self imposed solitary confinement
Until my pen bleeds on this pieces of paper

Just leave me in this empty room of mine until the twin spirit of wole Soyinka and John p. Clark torment me to death

Am mad with poetry
And have been confided in the mental asylum of life

© Nnamdi Nwaubani 2021

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