"Letter from teen town" by James Ademuyiwa

Dear concerned reader,

We are the children from Teen town

Blossoming flowers with soft hymens

Unripe fruits from ageing trees

Green leaves with adolescent stems

We are the children from Teen town

Wielders of giant dreams with puny hands

Clothed with shades of tomorrow’s might

To rule and to tell tales of our infant dreams

We are the children from Teen town

Casualties of the cold hands of poverty

Barter elements of parents for better life

Poor damsels bred for bridal bribes

We are the children from Teen town

Children with dimmed tomorrow

Nurturing matrimonial beds of grey hairs

Tasting motherhood with life’s infancy

We are the children from Teen town

Babies whose adulthood hurriedly comes

At the knock of teenage years

To wake up to ill-societal responsibilities

We are the children from Teen town

Called on to daily tears and shame

Commissioned to fears of life and its loss

Testimonies of childbirth complications

We are the writers from Teen town

We are children, we are helpless

James Ademuyiwa is an HND II (400-level) student of the Department of Mass Communication/School of Communication and Information Technology, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ojere, Abeokuta, Ogun State.