See, the magical ripples of these waists have launched me into stars;
The undulating moves that toss men to trance, of gazing,
Of nodding, of smiling and wishing end would never come tapping.
I have often swum in your music like the rest
Yet the beats of your background songs
Still come to me, soothing like the breeze
And the rhythms of your accompanying drums
Each time tinkles me to the core.
Tell me, what semblance in nature can outshine your steps?
The dance of mangroves when the wind plays their drums?
Or the bubble dance of boiling soup
When the firewood plays their gongs?
I have seen men cook thunder with their palms
Heard strangers ask:
“What metal springs lie within these waists?
What grease is smeared within these loins?”
O Kunju Seghi, which father rolls
When the net befriends a big fish
Which a dancer performs at the dance arena
Which the hawker gazes at and forgets to sell
Which the sun too stares at and forgets to set
Hear me, hear me
This dance is bliss.
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2Kunju Seghi: an old and popular dance amongst the Ijaw people
Fubairabi Benstowe is a Nigerian poet born on the 4th of August 1991. He was educated at the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. His works have been published on Praxis Magazine, Nigeria/South-Korea Poetry anthology, Mariner ANA Bayelsa State Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. In 2014, he was shortlisted for the Africa-Wide BN Poetry Award, and in 2016 was longlisted for the same award. He was a guest poet at the Ake Art and Book Festival in Ogun State, Nigeria in 2014 and the First runner-up in the Eriata Eribhabor Poetry Prize in 2014. In 2018, Africans in the Diaspora listed him as a role model. He is presently working on his debut Poetry collection, I Dare Not Spit On Your Grave.
