TO THE GIRL CHILD ( FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD)

Guest Writer: Okwy Obu
                   

TO THE GIRL-CHILD
(in commemoration of the International Day Of the Girl-Child)

a difficult path 
is hewn out for you
even before
you make your appearance


and in some climes though
you are hunted
in dear mama's womb
and traces of your presence
eradicated
remnants poured out on the earth

endangered species
you make your way through
this life on one
leg standing
cockerel on a strange land

you have to fight
for every boon you receive
not like the piked ones
who get theirs on gold plates

your tender buds are the
dream of pedophiles
impatient to wait for you
to floresce
before plucking their forms

and your razor-sharp mind
is the fear of some
neanderthal throwbacks
who quiver
whenever they behold you
a-clutching a pen
ready to dance on blank leaves

soon you will grow
and many will try to teach you
your place
in the scale of life-stuff

quoting scriptures and
nuggets from cultures and
goat-dumb shit
but do not mind their bromides

the one who forged you
on the day he was resting
and made you
the most perfect of all

never meant for you
to go through life's odyssey
kowtowing to the pike
heart bowed to priapus
oh no

you were meant to stand tall
regally
and rule the world with the
rough-jawed

you were meant to be a queen
your majesty
the world awaits your ascension
oh do not fear
grab your sceptre with a smile

and rule

ABOUT OUR GUEST WRITER
Okwy Obu is a writer who resides in Enugu, Nigeria.