Lyrics: v, by Amatoritsero Ede
this hung morning
the immobile weser
is sluggish with memories
of dead water
on the niger river delta
in nigeria
after shell shat shocked
oil impurities into it
till choked full of poisoned fish and algae
the creek reeks of dead fish and people
like the ogoni nine
a hung boat nation unable to swim
pollution and politics
and thus was strung short
and hung from killer nooses
the vertical nine were long dead
long before the long drop
by the life-stained hands
of abacha’s henchmen hangmen hitlerites
nine necks cracked
life’s spine popped
broken
nine lives shelled
the niger delta
shell-shocked into haunted silence
stifled wailing along waterways
and among mangrove swamp and fauna
muffled wailing
unlike the silence on the weser
a portentous silence
the quiet of still graves
sunk real deep