By Izunna Okafor



They say I am bald
I know I am osseous
Indeed, I am a pewee
Nature has not made me so
But man's inhumanity to boys
Simply because I'm a boy

I became bald for loads
Bony for the sake of hustle
For they say I'm born to struggle
Nature has not made it so
But man's inhumanity to boys
Simply because I'm a boy

I wander in the jungle alone
Tearing the earth with bone
They say I'm meant to thole
Nature has not made it so
But man's inhumanity to boys
Simply because I'm a boy

I'm banned from crossing
the walls of college
Where my sises are fed with papers
I'm hauled to the crust of Ladipo
For they say school is not for boys
But to sweat in order to be a man
Simply because I'm a boy

In tattered rags I'm forced to shrithe
While my sis afloat in vogues
They say fashion is not for boys
Nature has not made this so
But man's inhumanity to boys
Simply because I'm a boy

I feed on remnants
Crust is my daily manna
I'm ravenousness they care not
They say boys don't feed well
But nature has not made it so
It is simply because I'm a boy

Because I'm a boy
Yes, I'm a boy
And so what?
I'm only a boy
I'm not a stone
For boys not stones.

© Izunna Okafor, 2019.


About The Poet:

Izunna Okafor is an award-winning young Nigerian novelist, poet, journalist, essayist, columnist, publicist, editor, administrator and an Igbo Language Activist who hails from Ebenator in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
He writes both in Igbo and English Languages, and has published enormously in both, nationally and internationally.
Izunna, a graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, is a recipient of over twenty literary awards, and has five published books to his credit, in addition to his online publications, which cut across Journalism and Creative Writing. He is the brain behind the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival.