Agbaya
100 Boyfriends Mixtape fuckboy summer etc [2023]: I'm currently on a kick of thinking about what it means to make messy art. What does it mean to make work which rejects the demand on marginalsied stories to be moral tales and actually engages with the scrappy greys of human life? How do you reject simple judgements while still maintaining a sharp politic? Will if there's anything to be learnt from this from beyond the reality that Purnell is an incredible artist, it's that to make work invested in the mess of life you've gotta be willing to live and breathe it and that can be done on your terms without succumbing to a leering external gaze.
HRTbrkr [2023] - Boy Bowser - I always love when an artist I follow cos they seem cool on social media makes music and it's actually good! This is a very fun genre-fluid dozen songs about love, heartbreak and dancing the night away.
The Handmaiden [2016] - Every time this film almost lost me, it brought me back with something batshit. A great time!
X
Hi hello, this is a fairly quick one for you all! I just finished a poem/bit of storytelling designed to be performed live. It's inspired by me going to a charity shop and thinking about how they exist as weird collections of hollowed out pieces of culture made to be devoured by tourists. So I thought hey, why not push that shit to somewhere scary with a living monster(?) gift shop (?) that appears and lures tourists to their doom(?). Hope you enjoy!
NB: This was meant to come out like 2 months ago but my laptop broke and life got busy so here it is now!
Agbaya
It was in a market in Lagos
The sort of place where anything could happen, Where dust drowns the space between the sea and the sky, where possibility and pain are just around the corner, where new towers of Babel are bought daily, where It lived
To find It took Time, or a bucket of good bad luck, the wrong left turn and a right, the wrong right turn and a left, But when you met It you would know.
Have you every watched a pirated vid on Youtube or Facebook where things are just a little off to get around copyright?
Well it was less like that and more like the difference between 23 and 33 frames per second, like the world has shifted, only a little, but you know, the presence of power isn't something defined, but you know, and She sure as hell did, But He didn't.
It now had visitors two travellers who took the right path then the wrong path then the right one again finding themselves in front of It's doors
There were no windows inside, yet somehow a faint glow was there, current ran through these scrap metal panels and yet - in the current, it was as if there was sunrise and sunset within, a beauty and this man of ivory just had to possess It.
So through the door He barged, Dragging his bride by the wrist, The desire to dominate conquers all, Even questions like What is this sudden cold in the middle of a hot Lagos day? Why has the smell of shit suddenly left the air? Why do I see light but hear no generator? It did not care. It was Hungry.
Today It looked like a gift shop, Shelves lined with cheap tat just about authentic -looking enough to fool a 'cultured' coloniser, As He filled his hands and hungry eyes, A whisper emerged from the egg-like stone-ish heads, Like a knife dipped in honey tickling the skin, It spoke.
"Oh man of chalk with eyes of sharpened steel, And vicious yearning maw within your bones, I'll offer you a bounty of a meal, if you just roll this multi-sided stone"
(She felt the fear, entreated him to leave. He shrugged her off, a glimmer in his eye)
"This game is not one for the faint of heart, If you roll odd I'll upend your desire, Reveal the poison present from the start, You'll bleat like the agbaya that you are"
(She chuckled for a second then stood silent. Fearful of the blaze within His gaze)
"The choice of yours as it has always been, To prove me wrong and right the unrevealed, So roll good knight and let your heart be seen, Perhaps your hollow hungers will be healed."
(She knew there was no more she could persuade, He surged forwards without taking a breath and rolled.)
"Good child of here I beg you leave this place, the olodo does not know what he will face"
She knew what It demanded. He didn't. She slowly backed her way out. He didn’t even notice.
I’m less online lately, but whsiper on the winds and maybe you’ll fine me! Always appreciate your support whether that’s verbal, financial (ko-fi.com/tayowrites) or whatever else.