.../ New Culture condt.
6
The pipes are rustic
That once bore water
Instead we have the plastic sachets
That bear Typhoid fever
In its purest form
"Who allowed this?"
Is who is behind the business
But the irony is
He has never tasted a drop
Of this PURITY
For if he ever did drink it
He would have come into a state
Of Near-purity
And realised for us
Our purest dreams
Of our pipes bearing water again
You see, the prose is
over
My new culture has defied prose
...but in its simplicity
We still understood its complexity
That this culture-even though new
Has been around for too long
Forcing me to get used to it
Against my will rather...
...but heavens forbid
I should feel at home
In this new culture of mine
Ebele Okoye 1999
(Exhibition; New Culture and Selected Works, Didi
Museum, Lagos Nigeria, Nov 1999)
