Contributor Series 10: Silken Rags
Rugged vs Pretty
By Babatunde Lamidi
Got a call one morning from guess who? Pretty
Inviting me for a party
Turned it down like a goalkeeper
Who had just parried a ball to the left corner
A room filled with men and women
Ladies and gentlemen dressed in a manner
That depicted their financial status
Chests puffed out, heads held high, shoulders unusually out of place
As if ready to pop out from their sockets
Lights, drinks, shoes, music
Nothing but the finest of jewelry
Sparkled from every angle
Everybody looked prim, properly personified and personalized
Activities that would ordinarily condemn me to eternal boredom
Were cherished and adored by people of supposedly high standards
But in the midst of my thoughts
I sighted Rugged from afar
Guys and girls from the hood
All looking nice and good
With the food we had stolen from Pretty
Stepped into the room
Music was as high as the heavens
We stepped to the dance floor
Just like eleven vs eleven in the field
Doing the shuffling back and forth
Adrenaline pumping sound clouded
The existence of Pretty
With smiles and laughter depicted us
It wasn’t Pretty and there was no finery
It was a gallery of Rugged hearts
Merged in the center of celebration
Babatunde Lamidi’s poem A Sick Heart appeared here in July 2011.
