i am an artist

because the Niger Delta flows through my blood

because I know guava by taste, not name

because I eat ripe plantain raw

because the most natural piece of clothing to put on my body is a wrappa

because sometimes I like to walk barefoot—the streets, the grass, the sand, the earth

because sometimes I get so homesick I can’t function

because there is nothing as strong as my love for my people, my country,

our languages, how we move, how we dress

because when the music plays, my soul comes out

because I love the heat, sweat dripping down my back, sweat everywhere

because I love you

because I always have and always will

because I will always save a song for you, find a song to dance with you to

because you give me life

because you make me laugh

because I was born to do it

because your smile lights up mine

because I love fish, love the water

I represent the Delta

I represent all the peoples you don’t see

the Naija women makin love to each other in the night night soft soft slow slow hard hard

I represent to you who you do not know

I represent the New York mixed with the Naija,

the subway tracks,

the red soil

the urban, the rural,

the daughter of the village

who dances on concrete

because I am a mixture of so many rhythms and beats

because I like heels and power tools

because I am soft

because the beat, the beat, the beat, I live by that beat, because of and within that beat

because I was meant to tell stories

I came so I could tell you

all this and all this and all this

because the Delta flows through my blood

because because

because of these things

I am an artist