Babatunde Lamidi’s most recent poem to appear here was A Disorganized Setting (October 2012).

The Long Stir
By Babatunde Lamidi

Thoughts, running deep
My world is torn to the barest minimum
Blurred but focused

I can hear my own heart beat
And it echoes right back into my ears
Stirring, stirring

That’s my role in this drama
Not much of an epic,
But enough of a devastating plot

Stirring, stirring
Like a statue in the desert
As the whirring wind paces time, my time

Frozen, I see myself motionless in time
A variegated pattern in a grand mosaic
Not of pictures but timelines

My reflection watches
Palpitations begin
And I am in
For the long stir