On the sixth day,

He proclaimed: let's

create man in our likeness.

On the latter days,

man riposted: we're not alike,

we're not ‘them’,

we're ‘different’.

our culture is superior,

their practice is inferior.

our god(s) speak,

theirs is surd: dead.

they're brute and savage,

we're refined and cultivated.

we shall create boundaries.

Water.

Gust of water

sourced samely.

Sand.

Paint of sand

earthed together.

Trees.

vegetation of trees

of greened homogeneity.

You're wrong,

I'm right:

a spell of doom.

You're Jew,

I'm Palestinian:

you're dead!

You're rich,

I'm poor:

it's all borrowed privileges;

a borrowed time.

You're white,

I'm black,

so what?

judge me my character!

You're red,

I'm coloured,

are we of same race,

no difference.

i’m hindu,

you're moslem,

he's christian,

she's catholic,

we're protestants,

they're olorisha,

of all twigs of same tree,

are we; no difference.

He believes,

she believes not -

‘kaffir’, lapidate her!

this conceit shouldn't,

shouldn't yoke our humanness.

Identity; it's crisis,

it's racial; it kills, it

compares; comparison

is cruel.

Identity separates,

alienates.

Identity is warring.

Identity isn't two but one

– of the human race.

© OWÓṢENÍ

Adégòkè Owóṣení is an academic, a graduate student in the department of European Studies with a concentration in French and Francophone Studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His area of interest can be traced down to postcolonial discourse, 21st century francophone literature, autobiographical and historical fictions, discourse analysis and speech analyses, and cultural and critical studies. Outside academics, he thinks, philosophises, and writes poetries. He can be reached via: Gmail: adegokeisraelowoseni@gmail.com and +234 8169119277