MOSQUITO

Image Source: http://www.freakingnews.com/Giant-Mosquito-Pics-36004.asp

These photo-shopped picture may seem hyperbolic as Mosquitoes don't carry oxygen tanks and are certainly not that big. 

But the tiny creatures are only tiny in size. They are colossal in harm, make no mistake about that.

Malaria spread by mosquitoes killed an estimated 655,000 people globally in 2010. Even with a declining death rate, Malaria is still among the world's top killer diseases. In 2008 it killed an estimated One Million people.

Today we feature a guest poet-Priscilla C. Okorie. She wrote this poem titled Mosquitoes in August, 2010 while unmarried and known by her maiden name Miss Chinenye Elekwachi.

The poem written in free style and set in a developing economy somewhere in Africa, sees the Persona in a touching monologue about Mosquito and the effect it has on her existence.

It is a beautiful poem that addresses in a subdued but highly critical way the societal dynamics that foster Mosquitoes and Malaria in developing countries especially in the rural areas or urban slums. On the metaphorical level this blood sucking mosquitoes could even stand for a corrupt political class intent on bleeding a nation to death and the fervent prayer of the hapless majority who yearn for a better tomorrow if not in their lifetimes then in their offspring's own.

It's a classic. Enjoy.

MOSQUITO by Priscilla Okorie nee Elekwachi

Fie thou treacherous enemy!
Murderous enchanted scavenger.
Blood is thine nectar;
and death thine gift to the world.

I know thy footsteps.
For night after night, I awake to thy call.
Does thou not sleep? Does thou not break?
No family gathering? No community emergencies?
I know thou can be conquered.
For I have learnt that in the far lands,
thou dread to show this menacing face.

Alas! I can fight.
But wait!
With this leaking roof?
Mountain of rubbish?
Drainage needing draining?
Broken pots and plastics?
and feeble hands slaving for food?

I nurse thee instead, as my Neighbor.
I long for that morning turned noon,
when I shall be rid of thee forever!
and save my unborn child,
the agony of hearing thy voice after birth!