PROFILING TOLASE AJIBOLA (NIGERIA) #BABISHAI2015 SHORTLIST

Tolase Ajibola is a statistics student at Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria. He keeps a part time job as a poetry editor at Whitehouse collective - a publishing firm in Ibadan, Nigeria. He co-edited Phases: poetry of people with Adegoke Tope Mark and Femi Morgan.

His #Babishai2015 shortlisted poem is here:

Evolution  by Tolase Ajibola  (Nigeria)

 (for adonis)

“A star is also

a pebble in the field of space” – Adonis

i

i like to write in circles,

circle is the shape of the sun

when it breaks through ocean doors;

the sun is the end of dreams.

dreams are images pushed in wooden carts,

cart is an idea of trees.

the moon writes endless verses

about the sun's mood

in the night time.

ii

the moon gambles with me,

seven is his lucky number.

he sips beer after each win.

his moustache welcomes froth,

uncultured alcoholic draped in the mourning clouds

at a friend's funeral.

i won't be at the funeral

for time wins Olympics

and this friend reincarnates

iii

poetry lies with the sun,

within it are two rivers

one washes dreams,

the other poisons all things.

this ship doesn't move,

it sank in the current of mood.

i cannot write too

the river is ink and

i am confused…

The #Babishai2015 Poetry Festival runs from 26 to 28 August at the Uganda Museum in Kampala. Follow us on Twitter @BNPoetryAward for live updates.  #Babishai2015