Rashidah Ismaili

L

Lagos

Lagos you are dirty
Your sand is soiled
Your fruits pithy.

I am tied to you
in a strange land
by lines that queue up
for foodstuffs you
should be eating but
ship off to me here
where I stand on check
out lines and marvel
at the cost of one
paw paw, just one mango
singular, along and apart
from you my dirty city.

O Lagos, your streets
are packed and pollute
the air while here in
a smug smogged city
I choke.