Hero Dust

Uncle bore the universe in his hands 
turned it on its head to ward off bullies 
spun it to produce tales of how the world 
was this wide open field of adventure 
with me at the centre of it

I honed my laughter on his shoulders
learnt to peel back the mysteries of the world
by following the dot at the end of a question mark
Uncle knew everything about everything 

I grew up on his legend
how he raised an army of sibling
juggling two continents and one
books to learn about anything 
from ‘dialectic materialism’ 
to the history of the assembling line, and
20 hours between riding a Danfo bus
and keeping the marauding poor
from the gates of the rich in the dead of the night
they say the pressure never cracked his smile
I believe them because
I drank from this well of kindness
never knew my parents rode the years 
on the back of this capeless superhero

Our worlds would spin out of control without heroes
champions who hold us up against the weight 
of humanity dragging us down the abyss
shame us by the wounds of their sacrifice
tame our demons with the soft light of their presence.
but heroes wear dust too
and puzzle us when they bump
against a rock of desire  
and we see the earth come off

When i was nineteen
Aunty Edna packed her things and left
the kids in tow
I was old enough to piece together 
the fragments of words broken 
behind closed doors 
and to decrypt the gossip of the wind
I hear she was just twenty-three
a student from the University Of Lagos
pretty little thing
now off on another conquest 
a hero’s dust between her legs