In lieu of tempestuous behavior
Please read the words I write
A colloquium of emotions
Oh, what an equivocal sight
I'm a kleptomaniac of pain
Feeding off the reaction
A ventriloquist of theft
So idiosyncratic
And in this conglomeration
Of acculturation by design
I live life by a pseudoynm
Pretending that it's mine
Ode to Holden Caulfield
I'm not even going to mention that term you scattered so ubiquitously throughout your memoir
It's pretentious to bring it up, like I'm trying to prove something
I mean, why would anyone who claims to be a so-called devotee fall into the trap of perpetuating the hypocrisy you so profusely railed against
Your fierce, but misplaced and naive attempts at integrity fall short everywhere … but in that field … and on the edge of that cliff
f
f
That is where you find yourself and your genuine purpose
You save the innocent from corruption
That is a noble cause
That is where,
despite your upbringing and your awkward attempts at acculturation,
you find an escape
That is where,
despite your prodigious flaws and your insolence to all that is holy,
you find redemption
OK. I'll say it – Everyone is a phony. But the real phonies are the ones who don't even know it
Like Stradlater in the back of Ed Banky's car
Timidity ran all over me,
I got frightened for the day
Corpers march out of the camp
Bidding service to their homeland bye
A compulsory year for “ajuwaya”.
Of waste to many
Of hilarious time out to some
Of acculturation to others
Of enslavement in a glorified den.
With the inscription NYSC on white top
Brownish khaki below
Para-force orange boot to march
Ajuwaya’s hope dashed after 365 days
Dream killed for future seeds
Aspirations in korper’s khaki cut off
As they are unleashed to joblessness
Scattered into hopelessness of labour market
Here comes the “korpersion”
In search of future in confusion
Outside the very den after gyration
In a kingdom with no future.
Alayande Stephen. T
2.55pm
17th August 2006
Ajuwaya- a term used for fresh undergraduate who are
Undergoing one year compulsory service to their father land.
Still on my way, but back to IPC from Apagbon in Lagos on
The behest of IPC Chairman, Lanre Arogundade.
Significantly, it was the pass out day for corpers as they don
the streets in their Khakis.
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