IRONIC: "YOUR HERO" BY SUMAILA UMAISHA.

I am your hero,

your day and night,

a pearl of dimples

soft on the cheeks.

My body

is an open street

with the lights out -

knives in the night,

stained to the hilt.

This body is beauty

stranded in traffic -

fiery horns and screeches,

ticket touts calling out

in tongues of swine.

Yet, I’m your hero -

the twisted wreckage

torn from your womb!

© SUMAILA UMAISHA 

-Nigeria.

Sumaila Umaisha’s “Your Hero” presents a disturbing contrast between the idea of a hero and the reality of a body marked by violence, pain, and destruction. The speaker initially describes himself with images of admiration and beauty, calling himself a “hero” and comparing himself to a pearl of dimples. However, this attractive image quickly gives way to darker descriptions of his body as a dangerous and neglected street filled with knives and darkness.

Through vivid imagery, the poem portrays a society overwhelmed by violence, disorder, and suffering. The references to traffic, fiery horns, touts, and “tongues of swine” create a chaotic picture of an environment where human dignity appears to have been lost. The speaker’s body becomes a symbol of this troubled society, suggesting that beneath its outward beauty lies deep damage and corruption.

The poem ends with a powerful irony as the speaker identifies himself as “the twisted wreckage / torn from your womb.” This suggests that the society that claims to celebrate him is also responsible for producing his broken condition. Ultimately, the poem criticises a society that glorifies its products as heroes while ignoring the violence, neglect, and dysfunction that have shaped them.