by Professor Niyi Osundare
Professor Niyi Osundare
Osundare’s poem to feature in London Olympics
In a letter to Professor Osundare, the organisers disclosed that his poem will be on display in the country and aired in a special broadcast series by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to celebrate the hosting of the 2012 Olympics by the City of London.
Responding to the selection, Prof Osundare expressed happiness that the selection of poems from around the world is part of the celebration of the Olympics. “It is a lesson for the rest of the world. While it is important to run and jump, things related to the mind and culture are also important,” he said.
Raindrum
The roof sizzles at the waking touch
Talkative like kettle drums
Tightened by the iron fingers of drought
Streets break into liquid dance
Gathering legs in the orchestra of the road
Streets break into liquid dance
Gliding eloquently down the apron of the sky
A stray drop saunters down the touch of my remembrance
Waking memories long dormant under the dry leaves of time
Of caked riverbeds and browned pasture
Of baking noons and grilling nights
Of airless cornfield and tired tubers
Then lightning strikes its match of rain
Barefoot, we thread the throbbing earth,
Renewed
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