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| Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi |
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Chapter #: 8
Updated On: 14 September 2005 - Words Count: 302 - Number of Reads: 568 |
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Informal Logic
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I
She was told that hard work was the only requirement
For achieving the American Dream
She's worked days looking after cranky old folks
Whose families no longer care
And nights as a security guard
For four long years
She's perfected the art
Of sleeping while standing
On buses and trolleys and trains
As she heads from shift to shift
Her limbs racked with pain
By deductive reasoning
She knows she is living
The American Dream
Someone just forgot to explain to her
That the dream would involve
Wiping up elder shit
So each hour she prays
For that wonderful day
On which she gets to wake up
II
Her husband left
Each time she got pregnant
And was only there off and on
After the children were born
Her boyfriend wrote her
A Dear Jane letter
Said I loved you dearly
But your kids I could not
By inductive reasoning
About lovers and children
She arrives at a strange conclusion
Straps the little ones in
And aims the car at the lake
She gets out onto the ramp
Releases the hand brake
Gets hysterical as she runs
But never once looks back
She blames the crime
On a black carjacker
Tapping into that reservoir
Of subconscious fear
That has served others like her well
For over four hundred years
But this time it goes awry
And for a little while
It seems the times
Really are changing
III
The officers were taught to shoot dead
Any suspect reaching for a weapon
The man was shot dead by the officers
By abductive reasoning some may conclude
That the man was reaching for a weapon
No one thought to explain to him
Before he came to these shores
What a deadly weapon a wallet could be
In his hands |
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LITERARY 
