4. Two boys play close to the bank of the Niger River, which served as a border between Nigeria and Biafra.

Photograph by Obuh Christopher Nelson

Shit in a gurney bag
a long dead dog with its head cut off,
a body without hair
with its pink tits sticking in the air

A white doll with one of its eyes gouged out,
an axe-cut in its skull
baby wipes and used condoms wrapped in crumpled papers
a hand from a missing body
an old padlock that has grinder cut marks, signs of forced entry
a five shilling coin that refused to rust away
Moi still trying to look young under the shitty water
maggots and mosquito larvae
hair in a plastic bag
old books that you can still read
if you could do it underwater
dead frogs and some that can still croak.