BABEL
everything going gone
people packed went
outskirts and elsewhere.
sound been bagged
aerial come down
music plucked from sky
and scattered.
tower come down.
lives in matted
woven nylon zipped
uncle cousin
gone. bass in back-
packs, trunk rattle hushed.
couldn't no centre ever
hold all that racket, no.
woman on the 68 bus
with the stories
she's gone.
estate scrubbed clean
of its grimy self.
loiter song gagged.
gap-toothed whistle
no more. song not ever.
pastor on the corner
mistakes empty for heaven
communion run empty
no two or more gathered
no bodies here
only ghosts
and memory holding
this nothing
and nobody place up.
(Gboyega Odubanjo,
1996-2023)
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Bellísimo.
Thank you, Robin. Such a loss. I’ll keep this poem close for a while. xx