No More School!

Why should we ever go to school,
When the classroom has become a hunting ground?
And the sound of gunfire is memorized like A,B,C…

Every school bell rings
Like a warning before death.
Why should we carry books?
Why should we learn numbers?
When they only count like kids forced to nap on cold forest beds.

Lullabies replaced by the growl,
Pencils exchanged for pregnancies,
Dreams buried like Old Roger,
Innocence of the playground recruited into violence.

Please tell me
Why should I ever go to school?

My teacher’s skull became a drinking cup before my eyes.
The forest paths I know unaided,
More than the road to the library.
My first lesson is survival,
My first examination is escape,
My graduation gown is black.
My certificate is an unmarked grave with cold dreams.

So, I ask the world again
Why should I ever go to school?

#naijapoetryfest #poetry #nigeria