Nigeria 2002

“I saw America there.”

Eco Poetry Contest Winner

Amy Small-McKinny

Their secret passed shack

to shack, woman to woman,

a breeze, from Ugborodo to

the Escravos River, to the boat

they seized and paddled into

the Chevron Texaco Terminal

Where they saw America:

fresh greens, running water, flushing toilets

Where they asked:

What is life

if sacred graves are washed away?

Where they loved the river,

hated the pipelines that flushed away

their land, hated the boots they wore

to work, those that had them—boots or work.

Where they knew the gaping hole,

the man made creeks

that launched their grief.

Now you ask:

What did Mama Ayo,

organizer of the Young Ladies

Progressive Wing want?

Roads, lights,

schools, jobs-

other than whoring

at Bush’s Bar,

their children returned.

Who could blame the children?

Their lives were

falling away

Two, maybe three

would be adopted;

one or two or three

would sleep soundly

or sob for the sounds

of mothers breathing.

One child would dream

of Nigeria, then turn towards

Target; she was not hungry.

She dreamed a woman,

a river, glided into nothing,

into oil and water.

How can I know this?

When did my life

become another’s?

My skin remains the same,

my river is my child, I cross

over into this story.