Not My Business
# Not My Business

"Not My Business" is a free-verse poem by Niyi Osundare. It is included in Cluster 2, Poems from Different Cultures, of the AQA Anthology.

   They picked Akanni up one morning Beat him soft like clay And stuffed him down the belly Of a waiting jeep.
   What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?
   They came one night Booted the whole house awake And dragged Danladi out, Then off to a lengthy absence.
   What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?
   Chinwe went to work one day Only to find her job was gone: No query, no warning, no probe – Just one neat sack for a stainless record.
   What business of mine is it So long they don’t take the yam From my savouring mouth?
   And then one evening As I sat down to eat my yam A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.
   The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.

—Niyi Osundare

