Poem by Joseph C. Ogbonna

A Letter to the West from the Sub-Sahara

My western and distant pal!
You have it plentifully seen!
You have it plentifully eaten!
You always trash the necessities of the Sub-Sahara
You have them in courses, so do you in sweet-coated and varied delights.
You consume and consume so much of them!
You get sated at the very peak of your insatiable appetites.
Your maximum gratification and enjoyment decline and become bland.
All an indigent Sub-Saharan like me can do, is just stare longingly from my want-stricken
And famine ravaged landmass.
You are hedonic, but I am miserable!
Your wasted crumbs are my daily fantasies:
Your discarded marmalade, Vienna sausages, Hungarian goulash, cheese and pizza.
I consume your coco-pops, Kellogg cereals and oat meals in nothing more than
My very best of dreams and fantasies!

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Joseph C. Ogbonna is a widely published poet. His works have been published in magazines, journals, anthologies, self-published volumes and in online blogs. He lives in Enugu, Nigeria.

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