OEDIPUS (The PRODIGAL redefined)
Oedipus is the revolutionary movement
‘gainst kings
and greedy lawmakers
Oedipus the gods are to blame
they cast you out
that imperialism shall not end
I telltale bird of the garden
it is I star-witness
of the original sin.
I bird Holy Spirit possessed
in free speech mentions
the must-not-mention name of God
Oedipus you born for revolution;
making you an outcast
are the kings’ solution
Oedipus is you and I
those of us financially handicapped
by government
Oedipus the prince of sovereign
parentage must come to review
the past in outrage
Oedipus is you and I
denied our right by thrones of power
for their selfish end
all financial handicaps
of the nations you’re
Oedipus of your generation
Through oracular binoculars
they saw the prince
in sympathy with the enslaved
all kings and queens
of imperialism are Jocasta
and Laius of modernism
The priests and kings and queens
who call themselves gods
said Oedipus must be subjected to death
All capitalist presidents and monarchs
are the Jocasta and Laius
of the world
you and I fiscal handicaps
are Oedipus outcast from
the commonwealth by thrones
Oedipus was made handicapped
and cast out and denied
his right as heir to the throne
Olusegun Obasanjo a great Laius
and Laius was killed
by Oedipus
You and I made financial
misfits by politicians
are Oedipus of the land
Atiku Abubakar is a great Laius
and Laius was killed
by Oedipus
You, I, are Oedipus
we outcast from our rights
by the mighty political kings
Badamasi Babangida a great Laius
Oedipus killed Laius
so the story goes
Oedipus remembered his right
in revolution sought for it
killing the king
Orji and rev’rend King are great Laius
Oedipus killed Laius
so the story goes
Oedipus is you and I
that’s been made financial
handicaps by lords of the land
Oedipus struck down the
political authority that
made him a handicap
Queen Lizzy is Jocasta
to Oedipus the fiscal
clubfoot, Jocasta hung.
Jocasta and Laius made Oedipus
outcast that their throne
should live forevermore
Oedipus is that handicapped fiscally
by financial and
political powers
Empresses of imperialist worlds
are Jocasta who hung
by Oedipus’ actions
Oedipus is that handicapped fiscally
by financial and
political powers
Jocasta and Laius made Oedipus
outcast that their throne
should live forevermore
Oedipus envenomed and struck
the authorities that made him
a social misfit
Oedipus is you and I
made social misfits
by political and financial powers
O you and I are Oedipus
made financial outcasts
by capitalist magnates
Capitalist tycoons are Jocasta
and Laius that’s made us
financial clubfoots
Political profiteers are Jocasta
and Laius that’s made us
fiscal clubfoots
Profiteering ministers and reverends
are the priests giving oracles
at Delphi
you must pay your tax
they say, pay your tithe
it is your duty to the Almighty LORD
to hell with the Almighty LORD
the Almighty LORD who I
have declared is Satan
The priests of Delphi
today are the capitalist intensive
reverends and bishops
bishop Oyedipo David et al
are the contemporary priesthood
at Delphi
the priesthood together with
the rulers made Oedipus
a handicap and outcast
the priests and rulers
have made you and I
Oedipus of the day outcasts of the land
They have made you and I
outcasts from our entitlement
outcasts from the commonwealth
Oedipus heir to the throne
was made outcast
that imperialism lives forever
you and I are Oedipus
handicapped
that imperialism may live forever
you and I are Oedipus
made outcast
that capitalism may live forever
Oedipus are they financially club footed
fiscally handicapped
by the government
And are forced to
Take up swords and guns
To do violently against the kingly ones
Oedipus is the revolutionary
movement ‘gainst avaricious
law makers
rulers earning millions
that Oedipus of the nations
be outcast from the good life
Oedipus is you made
a societal misfit
by your presidents and senators
that you may never be competent
or be graceful
like the children of the affluent
Mr president you and your senators
governors by your pay
in the millions
you cast me out from my right
you are king Laius in my life
clubbed my foot right from birth
the naira million baby wrist watch
of your queen makes her
Jocasta of Oedipus
Oedipus is you whose financial
standing is made broke from
birth by the government
Oedipus is you doomed
from the start from birth
not to be upright by your government
who having fiscally handicapped you
from birth that as you grow
you will be unfit
to challenge their rule.
Oedipus says whether I’m righteous
or not upright in standing
as from this day I begin
on the path of revolution
revolutionary
to unseat the political
and financial powers that
has made me a handicap
Oedipus is the people
that those on the seat of power
have denied their birthrights
treated as aliens
prodigals the outcast from the heavenly life
in their homeland.
Oedipus is the people
made subjects of hardship by their rulers
and to make it
to heaven
Oedipus the common man denied his right
makes a recourse to vi’lence
Oedipus is you, I, Prodigal
made outcast from the heavenly life
by rulers
écause Oedipus the Prodigal
has remembered
heaven is his motherland
heaven is his fatherland and the
rulers denied him
the heavenly life.
Oedipus the Prodigal is you and I
denied our birthright
made outcast and denied our rights
to express our birthright to love
whom we chose to love
denied the right to dress as I like
because I am not
a heavenly candidate
Prodigal financially handicapped
Heaven’s outcast misfit
unfit for good clothes
And if the lord be merciful
he would hand me down
from on high the rags of heaven
Oedipus the Prodigal driven
from the heavenly life
into hardship returns
in revolution hard hearted
for motherland the heavenly place
for his birthright
and the rich ones living the heavenly life
said to the Prodigal:
O Oedipus
it is forbiddenyou to have mama
you will make of yourself
a motherfucker
Oedipus is you, I,
outlawed from heavenly life
before we committed a crime
prodigals denied heaven’s
common wealth of sunshine and rainfall
with a twisted law
Oedipus the prodigal
says so be it I’ll be a motherfucker
for what’s mine
I shall break the rules
abuse the queenly
and those whose houses, places are palaces.
Since the rule does not apply
to those in heavenly places
it means to be in heaven
I won’t apply by the rules
Or I make the lord those in heaven
apply by the rules
to hell with the rules
by the matchbook
lucifer may the rulebooks burn in hellfire
You and I are Oedipus Prodigal
outcast made handicapped
with unemployment
You and I are prodigals Oedipus
outcast handicapped with
under-employment
They who make
children of mother earth
alien to their right are Jocasta and Laius
The fiscally and politically
devious ones
are the Jocasta and Laius
The Prodigal working underemployed
in pigpen, remembered
his heavenly rights
I Oedipus prodigal outcast
from my heavenly rights
will in revolution
approach the powerful politicians
bishops and financiers
for my heavenly rights
The Prodigal working underemployed
in pigpen, remembered
his heavenly rights
We need the Oedipus
and not misdirected insurgents
whom are half-baked Oedipus
Oedipus prodigal
outcast from heavenly rights
disheartened the monarchial ones
and not these misdirected insurgents
striking ‘gainst maids
purdah handicapped women
women clubfooted by religions
Oedipus handicapped
by theocratic Laius
Oedipus makes revolution
Prodigals set to demand for
Their right from the thrones
and save like the tale of Jesus
the throne accords the prodigals
their heavenly rights
and there will be peace.
There can be no peace
when the Prodigal who work underemployed
in a pigpen
remembers her heavenly rights
and in revolution sets for it
O king Laius Mr. Buhari
Oedipus may soon come
for your heart and Jocasta’s
hard hearted king and president
I know you are
But how tough hearted is Jocasta?
Oedipus recognize not
the despotic king or queen
gave them no recognition
Why should Oedipus
recognize the rulers who made him
a financial handicap?
‘Those whom the gods
will destroy they first make go mad’
the gods have made me Simpa go mad
Smoking mirror shall you have my heart
It’s I flying backwards
feeding of the nectar
it’s I
I who have mentioned the must-not-
mention name of God motherfucker Oedipus
I Holy Ghost possessed by God
speaking in tongues the freedom of speech
the speech of God
The blindness of Oedipus
is the final blackout
of the visionary. In sleep
inviolable
shall he get hung-over
from the intoxicated revelations
but not before envisioning
the beastly asterisk;
My sweet and toughened heart goes
straight
to that clubfooted albino at Ede
may the morning star recompense you.
All rights reserved.
© Omoluabi S. Simpa
All rights reserved.
