Faces.
Phases.
Smiling faces
Frowning faces
Dry faces
Wet faces.
Faces are always in phases
Faces are in seasons:
Autumnal faces
Summer faces
Wintered faces
Faces that spring and scream
Threatened by Face Threatening Acts:
Hunger, poverty, violence, gunshots, rape, shame.
Scared faces frightened by the cost of living at Akpan Andem. Shamed faces insulted and assaulted by the price of fuel at the filling stations in Uyo.
Demoralized faces sighing at the sight of creditors.
Humbled faces guilty for hiding tithes, asking for forgiveness instead of blessings,
and running from tax collectors.
Epochal faces come in phases:
Colonized faces worshipping at the temple of the IMF in Pennsylvania Avenue.
Deprived faces sobbing at the Hague in 2002.
Damaged faces drooling blood at night in 1967
Happy faces dancing at the departing white figures at the twilight of imperialism.
Disillusioned faces smarting from the brutal brotherly slaps and kicks from their own black leaders shortly after 1960.
Bloated faces in hallowed chambers fed fat with the National Cake.
Bony old faces going home empty handed at 60 with no personal cake.
Disappointed faces trekking through the Desert in search of paradise
Tearful faces hanging on a raft waiting for help in the treacherous waves of Lampedusa
Black faces searching for dismembered selves in white society
Tired faces working countless shifts to survive in a neo-slavery paradise
Godly faces feigning eternal repose at life’s final call.