Shine Your Eye - Somi

When I close my eyes

I remember the bright city heat pressing against the knuckles of my searching

toes and squinting brow

I remember kind strangers and brave adventure

The beauty and revelation of dirty drums found deep inside of me and the

knowing that my heart’s hand had always rested its palm against their homesick

skins their homesick skins

I remember non-vegetarian pepper soups, month-long rainstorm lullabies,

and sleepy traffic thick with hot metal bodies and impromptu window snacks

I sigh… stroking through a sea of dissonant horns and agile bodies that careen

between cars hurling both barter and abuse

Unassuming streetside glamour — heavy hipped women in red and gold

A body of water full of reeds and houses on sticks expands under a concrete

stretch to Victoria Island

I remember being told to «pronounce yoruba with my mouth wide open»

and to shine my eye

The fake tears of nollywood flicks

The fierce intellect and ambition that spat in the face of stereotype

The sighting of East African backsides that saw me too

I remember hungry boys pouncing on car windows

And I remember looking away

Market fish and soft leather

Red carpets and white teeth

Pastel parasols and the unexpected majesty of rough beach horses

I remember sweaty night beats, brash rhymes, and bottle service — boat clubs

and chivalry

Strong-hearted men with oil-colored wealth and dizzying tropical nights

illuminated by generator hums and a sharp-angled breeze that begged me to taste

the mouth of the ocean if I momentarily opened my own

I remember hurting people with my western-isms and not knowing how to fix it

I remember writing sound and word while sitting on top of houses and underneath

almond trees

I remember when the mosquitoes stopped remembering to bite me

The quiet rejoice for stable electricity and clean water

The finding of love and the letting it go

Tears and melancholy

Magic and serendipity

Deep joy and rebirth

The soft breath of angels that whispered to me while I dreamt on top of hard

mattresses and danced under sunsets that startle you.

Champagne, anyone?