Bound by hands and feet
As a patient in an asylum
Mother leads the troop of the matriarchal order
Into our humble abode
Blades rusted in perilous tradition
Descending painfully upon clit, upon labia minora
Scraping away without mercy
Drowning dogma down between these shaken legs
This pain is akin to being burnt while alive
The impatient gush of blood covers the mat
As the oceans cover the sea
My indoctrination into womanhood is complete
They burst forth into a song, teaching my lips to sing
Admonishment comes in rounds
To teach my daughters and their daughters
To sing the song of the matriarchal order
Poem by Yewande Adebowale
Yewande Adebowale is a Nigerian Lawyer, Storyteller, Poet and Author of two collections of Poems titled ‘A tale of being, of green and of ing..’ (2019) and Voices: A collection of poems that tell stories’ (2016). Her poems have appeared in Visual Verse, Afritondo, Trampset, Poemify, Pride magazine Nigeria and elsewhere.
Her works carve a niche of poetic storytelling assuming a prose like form of creative expression inspired by her African roots. Winner of the Fidelity Bank prize for creative writing and TGN poetry prize, her works are inspired by the realities of life and living, in poetic and philosophical fashion.
She lives in and writes from the city of Lagos, Nigeria.