(for Madiba)
Times like now, I just hate the past tense
I hate the insensitivity of the speed
With which it wraps up the life stories
Of people I love with its -ed strings
I hate my incapacity to challenge
The callousness of this grammar
That ‘ceases’ claims to now and beyond
I particularly hate that the past tense
Lumps Madibas and villains together
In assigning DID to all in equal measure
I know it waits for me too grinning
If only I could knit a cloak from threads
Of a language without the past tense.
Tope Omoniyi
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About Ijagun Poetry Journal
Ijagun Poetry Journal is a quarterly journal that provides a platform from which we can tell our own stories in the authenticity of their multiplicity through the poetic medium. We don’t want to hear these stories from our master “griots” alone; we want to hear from those mastering their art, too. Hence, we aim at publishing new and emerging poets. We also welcome the works of established poets in order to encourage the poetic genius of those mastering poetic art. We prize original works that conform to, break or reinvent conventions. Again, we accept reviews and critical essays on poetry. We also accept powerful art works and photographs that make us appreciate the "poetry" in everything.
Ijagun Poetry Journal 
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