Unbriddled servant of the creator

Spreading potent webs that

Trap meat for the earth.

Bottled in taut spaces,

Like the Uli artists' cuddling segments,

The walls of your house

Are weaved with the wefts and warps

Of lyrical strings-

Strings the length of our palm's seal

Unforgeable by the wisest of serpents.

Fried: sounds like coconut between

hungry teeth.

Cooked: strikes those humming notes of

a drunkard.

Nsukka, 1995