Slow down (Sẹ́ jẹ̀jẹ̀), 2023 | Poetry

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Slow downnnnn

 

I need you to consider self, I need you to consider wealth, I need you to consider your mind

 

Rest your bones, sit them down, normalise the ability to prioritise 

Tell yourself 

Worthy am I!

Worthy am I!

 

Slow downnnnn

 

Get up from table, actually go and rest, don’t sit down past 8, past 9, past 10, 11, 1……….and not rest 

 

I need you to slow down.  I don’t care what it is, I just need you to slow down 

 

We need you. Remember long after you are gone we will be fine, but you need you. 

You need you for needing sake, you need you for surviving for you sake

You need you for thriving sake, you need you for loving sake, you need you for legacy sake. 

You need you and we need you, but the need that we need of you can only be needed if you are here to need you.  If you are here to fight for you. 

 

And the fight is not in loudness and banging of feet and swaying of hands telling you to go to bed or trying to manipulate you for a spa treatment or for you to try this new healthy snack, no it’s not that. 

The fight is in slow paced resistance to your normalisation of maladapted rest, to your normalisation of not chilling, your waka waka, waka waka, waka waka!, that’s often too much for your own good.

 

I need you to slow down 

I need you to actually just fucking slow down

 

I need you to sometimes grab that tea, put feet up and lay down. 

I need you to sometimes not even grab tea because sometimes tea has too much caffine and I need you to just go to bed and sleep.

And sometimes I need you to switch on the tele and watch something, not becuase you are interested in the stories of the protagonist, but becuase you need to take your mind away from your life and put your mind on the lives of mythical creatures and fictional characters; things that do not exist but excite. 

Things that do not exist but excite and take mind, body and spirit far away….

 

I need you for momentary chill, for momentary pace of chilling…. decompress…

 

I need you to just freaking slow down, I need you to be golden, slow down for rejuvenation, slow down for pacing, slow down for your own libation, in the living. 

 

I need you to slow down

I need you to wake up the next morning, not seeing tired eyes but your skin is glowing.

 

It’s glowing from rest, it’s not glowing from shaggs, it’s glowing from rest. 

 

Nobody knocked your back out my dear, you actually got rest. 

Nobody was tugging you and moving your arms side to side and lifting your legs to say “baby just one round.” No you actually rested!

 

You actually took the time to prioritise your sleep, you took the time to say nah not this time, I’m good. Sleep on that side, i’ll sleep on this side. 

Now you’re actually taking the time to just skip on paddles and not on bones. 

You’re drooling, your lips are droollllllllllllling, they're drooling. 

You wake up and theres a white scar just down your chin, because you’ve gone to lala land. 

 

Ah! my dear, you’re enjoying O!, enjoyment, enjoy—ment. 

 

That’s good, I want more of it! 

I want lackadaisical days in dreamyland for you and I want you to be so engrossed in your sleep that omo! oofe ji, olati ji… but ofe ji.. 

Mennn it’s so nice to breathe in rejuvination and say, ‘Omo! I feel soft and pampered’, without anyone touching my body, without any treatment or this or that, I just needed sleep, I needed to slow the fuck down, I needed to stop doing this and that and the third.. unproductive tidings for the sake of motion. I need to tell myself to slow down becuase I needed that shit

 

Thank you for talking some sense into me because I needed that shit

Thank you for holding me down because I needed that shit

It’s something else and I can’t really explain it but I needed that shit 

 

I’m slowing down, I’m slowing down, I’m slowing down… I am slowing down 

 

Wà 

Asíkò è tí de, 

Ma rọ̀ pupọ̀

Sẹ́ jẹ̀jẹ̀ 

 

Come

Your time is now

Relax, don’t think too much

Take it easy 

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