Alloyed

Let our eyes brighten. as they, together, dance.

Let our thoughts hum. to a synchronous rhythm.

Let us hear our scents. like the natives say.

Let us speak. of dreams, jollof rice, and Afrobeats.

Inspiration behind this piece.

I wanted to play around with sensory actions and alternative descriptors- the eyes (not feet) dancing and hearing (not smelling) scents. Essentially, alloying different parts and harmonizing them to evoke a picture of a softness, warmth, and love.

In the Yoruba language, the verb used to describe the sense of smell is “gbígbọ́” (/gbee-gbor/), which translates literally to the term, “to hear”. Upon pondering it, I thought it was a striking way to describe auditory perception- like each scent, aroma, or smell has its own voice, its own imprint.

I also wanted to juxtapose formality with familiarity in this piece. “Let us speak” takes a tone of formality and civility. In contrast, the subject matters which we speak about are of “dreams, jollof rice, and Afrobeats”, topics which we often discuss with passion, endearment, and excitement.