SATIRICAL: "I AM A BAT" BY AKAN ESSIEN

Here I am

a bat without limbs

but with thunder

in my farts  

that can pad  

a monstrous fag  

without borders 

to rule a kingdom  

that calls itself  

home of tortoises  

and lions.

My papers  

of knowledge 

which they  

vomit for  

hungry hyenas 

those paper-eaters 

were swallowed

whole

like the python  

that devoured  

money in  

a certain vault.

Here I am

on the day of my making  

I lost one wing

and cannot  

remember  

the day  

I came to be.  

No pity

no compassion  

from my kingdom  

only  

indignation  

and fury  

that feed their hate  

for me.

My Lords  

in the temple of Justitia  

in a faraway land,  

turn your blindfold  

from my  

snuff-taking habit.  

My enemies 

who despise  

my spiral garment  

of honour

have laid it bare  

before you  

just to see  

my nakedness  

and laugh me  

to scorn.

Here I am

a bat.  

Though blind  

in the night 

I promise  

to see clearly  

in the day.  

I will stand tall  

in the light 

when the plots  

to bury me  

perish beneath  

a bathtub lid.

We laugh in

Ibibio.

 ©AKAN ESSIEN 

- Uyo

Akan Essien’s “I AM A BAT” is a politically charged and satirical poem that presents the speaker as a bat navigating a hostile and corrupt kingdom. Through the unusual image of the bat, the poet explores themes of oppression, injustice, political corruption, persecution, and resilience. The kingdom appears to represent a society where those in power and those who benefit from the system exploit knowledge, wealth, and authority while ordinary individuals suffer the consequences. The poem’s bizarre and humorous imagery, including the references to tortoises, lions, hyenas, pythons, and Justitia, intensifies its criticism of social and political institutions.

The speaker also portrays himself as a victim of persecution. Having lost one wing on the day of his making, he is presented as damaged and vulnerable, yet he refuses to surrender to the hostility surrounding him. His appeal to the “Lords / in the temple of Justitia” suggests a search for justice beyond the immediate environment where his enemies have exposed and ridiculed him. The imagery of nakedness and the blindfold of Justice further highlights the tension between truth, humiliation, and the hope for impartial judgment.

Ultimately, the poem becomes a declaration of resistance and anticipated vindication. Although the speaker identifies himself as a blind bat that moves through darkness, he confidently promises to see clearly when daylight comes. Light therefore becomes a symbol of truth, revelation, and justice, while the plots against him are destined to fail. Through satire, allegory, irony, and unconventional imagery, Essien presents a powerful critique of a society consumed by corruption and hostility while affirming the possibility of survival and triumph over persecution.