Written in response to the prompt of the week at Writer’s Island….
Gin poured on earth - Salt water, five lobed kola nuts With palm wine. White loincloth over Bare skin, white cockerel held Over head spun- Seven times, Till faint.
Water, waist high Dirty brown infused with oil – Coloured sheen. Orange plumes belch- ing black smoke;
*Yemanja, the fish have fled; The mangrove swamps have become A deathbed. There is no fresh fish - Pepper soup, no cassava plants Left unshrivelled; No respite From the stench of putrefying life.
*Yemanja, you have given - And with the other hand taken, May tomorrow be a better day. **Iseeeeeeeeee!
*Yemanja is the goddess (derived from Yoruba mythology) worshiped by the fishermen in Jorge Amado’s Sea of Death