Wednesday, March 12, 2008

MONGUDU


The elephant dies and melts

Melts off in the bowels of Mongudu

The buffalo dies and melts

Melts off in the bowels of Mongudu

Mongudu the melting pot!

The melting pot of ancient days


Neither the thickness of the elephant’s skin

Nor the filthiness of the pig’s

Is a threat to Mongudu

Once on heat

Mongudu boils them all

Tell all the Mongudus

That the decadence of a pot

Is the concern of only the pot owner


Tell Mongudu

A water pot is good

Only for as long as it is clean

Water is not water

We may not know their sources

Rain is not river

All may not flow

A well is not a pool

Nor is it a pond

Even at boiling point

Some waters are still contagious


Tell Mongudu

The parable of the squirrel

Let her know

In what delights the mouth

Lies the death of the eater

Tell her

The pot is the eye of the body

May it see no evil.


Mongudu is a ready pot

As rough as the crocodile

As ugly as the Hippo

All melt in Mongudu

Could it be gluttony?

Perhaps it is avarice

Heat is all and one to her

Duration and intensity notwithstanding

Alas! Mongudu boils on


Then comes the day of reckoning

The news goes a beckoning

Mongudu is cold

But no one is bold

Some heat to share

With the melting pot of ancient days

Mongudu the melting pot dies

Alas! No melting pot for Mongudu

Mongudu stinks.

8 comments:

orantimi said...

Mongudu is the traditional earthen ware cooking pot common among the Yoruba tribe of the south western Nigeria.

The cooking pot is thick and can withstand any heat, so many find it ideal for cooking.

An analogy is drawn with this poem to show the reckless abandon with which some ladies sleep around.They sleep with the rich, the poor, the handsome, the ugly and the beast.

The poem simply points out that when the repercussion comes, no one will be there to share their predicament with them.

Janet said...

i love the collection of ur poems. maybe u can shed more light on why u wrote some?

deola said...

I love your poem. Quite traditional in diction. keep it up.
I will like to have you on my blog.

Unknown said...

Barack obama he have victory at last in USA

Unknown said...

www.x2donline.com

Unknown said...

Which language is the word Mongudu

Ijalana Ayodele said...

thank you sir for the poem.

orantimi said...

Yoruba language of the people of the western region on Nigeria