Odd Tales

A Poem by mikael owusu

perculiar news i hear from the village elders sitting under the baobab tree and how it affects me

"ODD TALES"
Oft in the night when i trek like a pilgrim through the town,
I hear of tales so odd
I freeze in a trance and listen as they invade my sense of sound.
I hear of tales of deathless deaths
Of dead men that come alive in morgues.
Of the undertaker who fights them in the war and gives them death again
So the funeral would be huge and the spoils great.
I hear also of albino still-borns who are deceived to live
Of how men of ill-intent come and take them at six to use them in supplication and worship to "mulla" the great.
Then my heart is heavy and tears threaten to fall
But then i gasp for air and move on!
But these odd tales have legs too
And chase me like rabid alsatians
Till i'm pinned to the floor and
Stare into their slobery face
And their ruthless teeth are sunk into me, then i scream.
The finely appareled woman in the corner watching grins,
She wins!
I dream of running far-far away
And taking comfort in pain
But these venomous odd tales
Run through my very veins!

By: Owusu F michael