Tawai! Tawai!

 

Tawai! Tawai!

We slap ourselves

Tawai! Tawai!

We slap each other

 

 

Sometimes the slap hurts 

More than the bite

(the type that so often 

ends with a fight)

 

 

Tawai! Tawai!

Almost every night

Tawai! Tawai!

If only there was light

 

 

Last night, I slapped

a sleeping child,

and I know a child will slap

his mother tonight

 

 

Tawai! Tawai!

the neighbors are clapping

Tawai! Tawai!

at two in the morning

 

 

“Maybe we should just

paint the wall red,

the colour of blood”

my daughter once said

 

 

Tawai! Tawai!

blood on our hands

Tawai Tawai

to prevent Malaria

 

 

but the cause of this illness is 

not always mosquito,

sometimes, it might be the

Tawai! Tawai!

 

-Seun Lari-Williams

Extract from the book of poetry, “A Little Violence”

Comments (2)

  1. Blessings
    April 25, 2022

    Funny😁

  2. Towobade Sulaiman
    April 25, 2022

    Tawai! Tawai!!!

    So hilarious

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