Lilian Oben

Lilian Oben is a West-African born poet and writer of fiction. Lilian spent her pre-US life living and studying in countries such as Ethiopia,England, Kenya, Italy, Morocco, Cameroon and Nigeria. Best known for her evocative prose and vivid narratives, her short story, "The Other Side" was recently featured in the all-woman anthology, HIS RIB: Stories,Essays and Poems by Her, published in May 2007 by Penmanship Books, a New York-based, minority and woman-owned publishing house. A current resident of Washington, D.C., Lilian is working on her collection of short fiction which is scheduled to be published in 2008.
 

my job is
you nine-

to-five, plus overtime.
yet, i am not paid
to scratch white

lice from your head;
grease your

back when it is high
time oil touched 
chapped skin, or bed
sore;

shave your head
when that time comes (though
you made me
swear not to,

I will);
sweep the floor
wipe it clean

from the

barbed wire mess
bad hair, springless
curls shorn (my hands will
not
caress
again).

you don't know that
i hold you

down so that
spew
hits toilet and not you,

wipe your face
so you cannot feel
that which drips from

blister corners of your mouth--
puss-swollen, pink skin
blue cracked--
(no
more
kisses)

they don't pay a
wage
for this. yet,
but for wet bed,
i would sleep
shotgun. yes.

instead, i change you
when hard and soft
seep out,
don't breathe in so
i can breathe out
patience,
breathe out calm,
breathe out comfort,
breathe out sane,
while you

let
go.

i clip nails
that you cannot see,
wipe cracks clean
where hands have not been,
rock-a-by you on
raised bed
till your eyes stay closed,
feed into you 
that medi-soup through
those tube spoons,
your life now measured
in

loud beeps,
green lines on black
screen--jagged,
soon flat-lined.

this is
my
nine-to-
five
full time, and yes,

sometimes

i hate you.