I am sitting here,
wondering if the world
has finally decided
to give up its membership
to the 20th century,
the way a man
might decide
to stop paying
for a gym
he never visits.
It’s a bit like
watching a rodent
who has managed
to fall
into a drum
of 192-proof
Polish vodka—
the kind of spirit
that doesn’t just
sting the throat,
but clarifies the soul
in a rather unfortunate
direction.
He climbs out,
this tiny,
drunken mouse,
not looking
for a nap
or a bit of cheese,
but suddenly convinced
that the entire
infrastructure
is his personal enemy.
You see him
in the dark,
eyes bright
with a chemical certainty,
using those
precision teeth
to snip through
the very cables
that keep
the refrigerator
breathing.
He doesn’t care
if it’s a wire
from a neighbour
in the South,
or a long,
sophisticated cord
running all the way
from a snowy
Greenland kitchen.
He is busy
resigning
from the pantry,
tearing up
the long-term lease
on the larder.
It is a very determined
sort of self-erasure.
He is cutting off
the supply
of the very things
he used to praise—
the high-calorie sweetness
of a grain
he didn’t plant,
the protein
of a peanut butter
he didn’t grind.
He is sitting
in the ruins
of his own appetite,
convinced
that sovereignty
is a matter
of making sure
no one else
can turn
the lights on.
We watch him
from the doorway,
fascinated
by the logic
of a creature
who has decided
that the best way
to run a kitchen
is to burn down
the grocery store,
leaving himself
with nothing
to chew on
but the bitter
aftertaste
of a spirit
he wasn’t
supposed
to drink.
***
_Majekodunmi O. Ebhohon is a Nigerian poet and playwright. He is the author of ‘The Great Delusion’, winner of the ANA Prize for Drama, 2025. He writes from Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.🇳🇬_
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