Loudthotz poets were invited by the Management of Beerhugz Cafe Ikeja City Mall Lagos, Nigeria on 1st October, 2016 to perform some of their best works about Nigeria. The most interesting poets in Nigeria did not dissappoint, they held the cafe at stand still till the cafe could not take it any more and told us to leave LOL!
Anyway if you have events and you want Loudthotz poets to perform in your event, please send a mail to loudthotz@gmail.com . . . we don't charge much just a couple of Hundred thousands!
ENJOY BELOW THE POEMS READ AT BEERHUGZ CAFE (it's a long read . . . and you may understand why they told us to leave LOL!)
V’S
OVER L
In 2001, Mama Oyo received an
invitation
It was not a wedding invite
No, nothing that fancy
It wasn’t an invitation to birth a
child either
You may begin to wonder
Oh, it must have been for a naming
ceremony
Well, it wasn’t
The invitation did not come wrapped in
an envelope
Neither did it arrive by post
It came speedily
Via electronic mail
Her son who was a politician
Received the invite
And told her it was time
Mama Oyo was elated
Though she had fought tirelessly
To have all her 6 children live in
Nigeria
Her daughter Fifekemi had left
And settled in Texas
She had 3 girls and declared her
childbearing
Days over
Mama Oyo was going to America
And she was beyond herself with joy
Her visa was granted with ease
Her son drove her to the airport
And her daughter picked her up
thereafter
Mama Oyo was a disciplinarian
Primary school principal for 30 years
She believed in the traditional ways of
Bringing up a child
Her ways were tried and tested
Her children, her pride, testify
After Mama Oyo had settled in
Fifekemi called Lola, Lily and Lucy
Aged 10,8 and 6
To meet Mama
“Hello Granny” was their greeting
“Tani Hello” her reply
Mama Oyo spent all of 3 weeks in the
land of liberty
Then packed her shock and
disappointment
And returned to her fatherland
With pride in the knowledge
That her values were intact
That her mother and her mother’s
Mother had passed down a treasure
A culture rich and profoundly embedded
In simple but germane gestures
That connote respect and
Balanced the delicate dance
Between freedom and limitation.
KEMIBON
///////////////////////////////////////
I AM A
SURVIVOR
East, West, North and South
Upon the twelve
Like Israel's twelve
I laid my threshold
Nurtured by Chief Funmilayo
Like Mary nurtured Jesus
Upon the twelve
Like Israel's twelve
I laid my threshold
Nurtured by Chief Funmilayo
Like Mary nurtured Jesus
East, West, North and South
My monumental self is sorted
I bear my cultured self
In Ivories and Bronze
Beads sculptured into male and female
I made me a home
For excavators
My monumental self is sorted
I bear my cultured self
In Ivories and Bronze
Beads sculptured into male and female
I made me a home
For excavators
East, West, North and South
I am a rainbow of reflex sparkles
My gifts made me the giant
Steep hills and valleys
Rocky mountains and mangroves
These bear my golden eggs
Adorned in garments of
Coal, iron, zinc and oil
I am a rainbow of reflex sparkles
My gifts made me the giant
Steep hills and valleys
Rocky mountains and mangroves
These bear my golden eggs
Adorned in garments of
Coal, iron, zinc and oil
East, West, North and South
In green and white
I bear my colours
Making eagle the crown
On my horns
My surplus
Feed stomachs and unity
Ekpo and Akpe my ruling agents
Thought the white governance
Sharo showcased my tenacity and womanhood
In green and white
I bear my colours
Making eagle the crown
On my horns
My surplus
Feed stomachs and unity
Ekpo and Akpe my ruling agents
Thought the white governance
Sharo showcased my tenacity and womanhood
East, West, North and South
Varied drums and wooden clappers
Calls up my steps
In rainbow wears
From Ishan Stilt
To Tiv Ajo and Icough
Ekiti heavy head masks
Thus brandishing Ubakala
A change agent
While Boorii relays
My complete melody
Varied drums and wooden clappers
Calls up my steps
In rainbow wears
From Ishan Stilt
To Tiv Ajo and Icough
Ekiti heavy head masks
Thus brandishing Ubakala
A change agent
While Boorii relays
My complete melody
East, West, North and South
I am a rainbow of reflex sparkles
My call is laud
It makes the world quake
My testimonial has no mate
I have survived
And will still survive
Because I am a survivor.
I am a rainbow of reflex sparkles
My call is laud
It makes the world quake
My testimonial has no mate
I have survived
And will still survive
Because I am a survivor.
CHRIS '
N' JOHN
///////////////////////////////////////
NIGERIA: DESTINY’S CALL
Where the sun shines
There too, shadow reclines
A time to whine, a time to wine
For Nigeria’s high destiny
To reclaim our dreams
To re-channel our streams
Of the geography of geniuses
Cast of the slough of cheap disguises
Where the seeds grow
There too, weeds prowl
A time to cry, a time to try
For Nigeria’s higher purpose
To restore merit
To rethink skewed social credit
Heal, national bad habit with integrity
Disband, the tribal cult of mediocrity
Where grotesque darkness echoes
There too, unconquered sun’s ethos
A time to obey, this time, today
Nigeria’s highest moral vision calls
To weld our numbers as majesty of sword and wealth
To weave our differences as tapestry of chord and health
And craft a tomorrow
Renewed, robust, resilient and never shallow
Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey
Arise, O patriots. Today
To shun the stale tale of tribe
One nationhood we subscribe
Curb the irrational religious exuberance
Great lofty heights attain with endurance
Labour with cumulative epiphanies
And birth new incarnation
Of one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.
@MICHAEL ACHILE UMAMEH
Where the sun shines
There too, shadow reclines
A time to whine, a time to wine
For Nigeria’s high destiny
To reclaim our dreams
To re-channel our streams
Of the geography of geniuses
Cast of the slough of cheap disguises
Where the seeds grow
There too, weeds prowl
A time to cry, a time to try
For Nigeria’s higher purpose
To restore merit
To rethink skewed social credit
Heal, national bad habit with integrity
Disband, the tribal cult of mediocrity
Where grotesque darkness echoes
There too, unconquered sun’s ethos
A time to obey, this time, today
Nigeria’s highest moral vision calls
To weld our numbers as majesty of sword and wealth
To weave our differences as tapestry of chord and health
And craft a tomorrow
Renewed, robust, resilient and never shallow
Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey
Arise, O patriots. Today
To shun the stale tale of tribe
One nationhood we subscribe
Curb the irrational religious exuberance
Great lofty heights attain with endurance
Labour with cumulative epiphanies
And birth new incarnation
Of one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.
@MICHAEL ACHILE UMAMEH
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ONCE
UPON A LIFE
Born with a wooden spoon
I was certain that I would reach the
moon
And beyond
In this life time
I lived everyday growing in love
And sowing the seeds of same
Tough like growing sesame
But I stuck to the game
I am determined to be ahead of the game
In this life time
I have played for fame
Now only I, am here to take the blame
Even a lame man will not accept such
blame
Jide had warned
But who was he to call the shots
In reality he had proven to be better
than the lot
In this life time
In this same time and clime did we hear
of missing billions
The other day it was a case of a stolen
phone
The gash to the left of his head did
not stop the boy
From landing in jail
At about the same time as his
A leader had cornered
Some billions
All we saw were headlines and arguments
in the media
We are quick to conclude and judge
Even at 56 years of age
We have not been able to surpass the
sage
Many years after, we are stuck with
ideologies that was passed down by the sage
Another case is that of pot calling
kettle black
Most of them have chosen to keep us in
the “dark”
Making sure we have nothing to eat
Except a feast and excess supply of booze
‘Tis not time for human breakaway
But there should be a way somehow
A way to jolt us back to life and help
us get a good go at 56
It will be fun, it will be sweat, it
will be fight
Then, it will need a complete
overhauling of our psyche
Then I can come back and tell the tale
of “Once Upon A Life.
ILUPEJU
/////////////////////////////////////
1.WE THE PEOPLE
1960!
Raindrums on our parade ground
danced us all the way to the villa
with rainbow pens
to sign our independence
WE THE PEOPLE
WE drew up his hands
Zik , Awooo, Tafa
mounted up on the podium of hope
their statue still standing
WE the people!
'67- '70
The Eagle’s Leftwing is fighting her right wing
3 million starved a million killed
The bitter taste of death stronger than the cola
Made us drop our arms and clubs
We the people!
1993
En masse we are here
On a Tribe less queue WE stood
To stamp our hand on the twelfth of June
But Kashimawo we all said, lets patiently watch
This we did until they jerked away our boxlike heart
It kept beating until we heard the announcement
And then we died
Our democratic candle
Totally snuffed off
WE THE PEOPLE
1999
A hero is bred
Out of the dungeons of death
The general sent him on a king’s errand
After his nose scented a coup,
To couple with doom
But fate came on a stroll
And wrongly delivered letters
Death to the general
Life to the condemned
So out again we trooped gyrating what Mama gave us
Singing “He has given us victory, WE will lift Him higher”
We the people!
We the people
Now its our turn
To etch names in the national history
Like small gods our let there BE
Became!
Unlike the commandments
From the supreme
This one was made
For WE the people
By we the people
2012
We marched shoeless
To occupy again our land from the crude bunker
Mathematician who miscalculated
George orwell’s words
All animals are equal
And hiked up the common oil
Here we met with an open bracket of resilience
But marched on Machiavelli style
Stoutly meeting our death
But we knew we could
When we got the result for our trial
The hike went down, close bracket
Yes we can
WE THE PEOPLE!
2014
Silent night, unholy night
Along came the devil
Blood starved minion
Sucked buni yadi out of our boys
And fished out girls like sardines
To be carted away to neverland
A forest of ghosting
Sambisa talk to me
Who do we tell to bring back our girls
Are the people listening?
2015
Here we are, WE THE PEOPLE
Out with brooms
To sweep away the ills past
But with wands of old
So the modified emperor
Can hop a ride to the rock top
a viila painted in secrets of color
no not the house called white
we the people claim this one victory
yes changed we are
now
our voice being the voice of God
must be heard
we will not leave the books we wrote unguarded
so you can change the words to suit you
because that’s the only power that we the people have
and now we need it to sing again
the songs we will chorus titled
2019!.
2. THE NATIONAL SIN
There is a new commander in town
And he’s written more commandments for our pleasure
Article 99,subsection 101b,
Corruption, a national sin!
Anyone found guilty:
“His name shall be written with blood ink
No monument shall be erected in his honor
His grave shall not have an epitaph
Neither should a requiem be sung on his funeral’
Our leader’s ear will tingle
When he hears we are all guilty
Of his national sin
His ear waxed blocked because
We even mentioned his name
As guilty of this among amongst several others
That we term national sin
“The man eaters
Don’t they call you brother sir?
National sin!
Cello taping together a part of the house
That wants to break away
National sin
When you engrave the descendants of the past
As the parent of the future
with national honors”
National sin!
Now declare every day a Sabbath
So that Its Lord can cleanse us both
Of our National sins.
3. NEVER LAND
Under the Iroko tree
As always we cracked nuts of lore
Never a heart to desert our land
But go we did, as shackles never imagined
Clamped our souls and body
To a colored spirit
For a sin we know not.
Our skin as associated with all things bad
We Never produce them a dirty thought
On our journey to destiny, Never could we afford a backward look home
Lest you risk a mortar in your mortal body
And like our kin, become a pillar of waste
Still we trudge, to a land desolate
Which by our hands were made fruitful
Though we Never had a taste of our labor
Our mouths doubly locked from eatingand speaking out
Against our kinfolks the double agents
Never were we given a chance to defend our strength
Like roosters whose crows were snuffed before sunrise
We swore Never to let go,
our tales by the baobab tree.
4. SONG OF THE NIGER
A lush green field of the savannah
Neighbors the desert of ceaseless water
in the plateau where my warm heart
is heated by the northern sun
and the cheeriness of the lagoon
Ignoring these, I hop
Into the city of bright lights
When highway holes port me off the lane
And the water supply ratio
Competes with electricity supply
How do I not gnash my tooth?
Until the cold of the frozen lands
Shattered my tooth in icy pain
And taught me the joy of misery
That cuddles one in loneliness
Now with all boldness I say
Home is where the heart is
Where love struggles with comfort and wins
A prayer I cite
For you my Nigeria
That you be made a bed of calmness
That soothes away all my worries
So i may seek not solace
In alien arms abroad.
LOLADE AJAYI
LOUDTHOTZ POET
1960!
Raindrums on our parade ground
danced us all the way to the villa
with rainbow pens
to sign our independence
WE THE PEOPLE
WE drew up his hands
Zik , Awooo, Tafa
mounted up on the podium of hope
their statue still standing
WE the people!
'67- '70
The Eagle’s Leftwing is fighting her right wing
3 million starved a million killed
The bitter taste of death stronger than the cola
Made us drop our arms and clubs
We the people!
1993
En masse we are here
On a Tribe less queue WE stood
To stamp our hand on the twelfth of June
But Kashimawo we all said, lets patiently watch
This we did until they jerked away our boxlike heart
It kept beating until we heard the announcement
And then we died
Our democratic candle
Totally snuffed off
WE THE PEOPLE
1999
A hero is bred
Out of the dungeons of death
The general sent him on a king’s errand
After his nose scented a coup,
To couple with doom
But fate came on a stroll
And wrongly delivered letters
Death to the general
Life to the condemned
So out again we trooped gyrating what Mama gave us
Singing “He has given us victory, WE will lift Him higher”
We the people!
We the people
Now its our turn
To etch names in the national history
Like small gods our let there BE
Became!
Unlike the commandments
From the supreme
This one was made
For WE the people
By we the people
2012
We marched shoeless
To occupy again our land from the crude bunker
Mathematician who miscalculated
George orwell’s words
All animals are equal
And hiked up the common oil
Here we met with an open bracket of resilience
But marched on Machiavelli style
Stoutly meeting our death
But we knew we could
When we got the result for our trial
The hike went down, close bracket
Yes we can
WE THE PEOPLE!
2014
Silent night, unholy night
Along came the devil
Blood starved minion
Sucked buni yadi out of our boys
And fished out girls like sardines
To be carted away to neverland
A forest of ghosting
Sambisa talk to me
Who do we tell to bring back our girls
Are the people listening?
2015
Here we are, WE THE PEOPLE
Out with brooms
To sweep away the ills past
But with wands of old
So the modified emperor
Can hop a ride to the rock top
a viila painted in secrets of color
no not the house called white
we the people claim this one victory
yes changed we are
now
our voice being the voice of God
must be heard
we will not leave the books we wrote unguarded
so you can change the words to suit you
because that’s the only power that we the people have
and now we need it to sing again
the songs we will chorus titled
2019!.
2. THE NATIONAL SIN
There is a new commander in town
And he’s written more commandments for our pleasure
Article 99,subsection 101b,
Corruption, a national sin!
Anyone found guilty:
“His name shall be written with blood ink
No monument shall be erected in his honor
His grave shall not have an epitaph
Neither should a requiem be sung on his funeral’
Our leader’s ear will tingle
When he hears we are all guilty
Of his national sin
His ear waxed blocked because
We even mentioned his name
As guilty of this among amongst several others
That we term national sin
“The man eaters
Don’t they call you brother sir?
National sin!
Cello taping together a part of the house
That wants to break away
National sin
When you engrave the descendants of the past
As the parent of the future
with national honors”
National sin!
Now declare every day a Sabbath
So that Its Lord can cleanse us both
Of our National sins.
3. NEVER LAND
Under the Iroko tree
As always we cracked nuts of lore
Never a heart to desert our land
But go we did, as shackles never imagined
Clamped our souls and body
To a colored spirit
For a sin we know not.
Our skin as associated with all things bad
We Never produce them a dirty thought
On our journey to destiny, Never could we afford a backward look home
Lest you risk a mortar in your mortal body
And like our kin, become a pillar of waste
Still we trudge, to a land desolate
Which by our hands were made fruitful
Though we Never had a taste of our labor
Our mouths doubly locked from eatingand speaking out
Against our kinfolks the double agents
Never were we given a chance to defend our strength
Like roosters whose crows were snuffed before sunrise
We swore Never to let go,
our tales by the baobab tree.
4. SONG OF THE NIGER
A lush green field of the savannah
Neighbors the desert of ceaseless water
in the plateau where my warm heart
is heated by the northern sun
and the cheeriness of the lagoon
Ignoring these, I hop
Into the city of bright lights
When highway holes port me off the lane
And the water supply ratio
Competes with electricity supply
How do I not gnash my tooth?
Until the cold of the frozen lands
Shattered my tooth in icy pain
And taught me the joy of misery
That cuddles one in loneliness
Now with all boldness I say
Home is where the heart is
Where love struggles with comfort and wins
A prayer I cite
For you my Nigeria
That you be made a bed of calmness
That soothes away all my worries
So i may seek not solace
In alien arms abroad.
LOLADE AJAYI
LOUDTHOTZ POET
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
HUNGER
Enough about Africa,
We have spoken of her beauty
too many times as it is,
We’ve overlooked our eyes
To this exquisiteness.
Nigeria too,
on her children
Who refuse to be selfless
Yet their hungry arms
Claw at their leaders’ mouth.
It wasn’t always like this
You know,
These leaders
looked noble and kind
With an air of wisdom and culture.
They worked together
And “left” together
They shook hands
And were friends
Nigeria was proud of them
Her people were happy
Ever hopeful
Even peaceful
Not starved
Strong
This is not a bed time story
Wake up!
Lest strife take you
As syphilis would
Wake up!
Lest you take strife
Like a pollen allergy
Whence it came,
You do not know
We do not need
To put our pained thoughts
On others
We can care,
Caution,
And move on,
They say,
But there is no
One way to life.
There are times ,
We,
Need to take that special
Time out,
To help,
Cheer,
And change
Another’s situation
There are times
We
Need to ignore
A person completely
Though thin limbs
And large fierce eyes
Stare at us for service
There are times
We
Shouldn’t ignore the reasons
Why a man
In a bus snaps
At the “conductor”
We
Could
Walk past a family
Seeking any kind of water
To another
seeking health
We
Could
Run to hold
The child who pukes
Due to his consumption
of bad food
Let’s live
As Ghandi
Or Paul Revere
Maybe Mary Slessor
She did protect children
After all
As we wait patiently
For Kaptain Africa
If he would have us
September 2016
ABIOLA
BONUOLA
////////////////////////////////////
NIGERIA,
WHAT HAVE YOU BECOME?
Nigeria, Nigeria, Once a warriors land
Reduced to nothing more than bribery
and corruption
Crimes after Crimes Bombs after bombs
What has my country Nigeria become?
Crude oil as a blessing, Coal as well
Even the cocoa, sugarcane and avocado
pear
But alas we misused these blessing and
so
God said, “I need some people to help
grow this Nation”
We are those people, the youths of this
nation
We stand tall and reject all forms of
corruption
We believe in Nigeria and we stand tall
Because we have the glory, the power
and the mercy of God
So once again I have to address the
Nigerians that think our
country is a mess
Despair not at what we have become
But rather, come and let us join hands
and hearts
To forge the vision we want to be
Together we can make it, make Nigeria
become
One nation, one country with freedom
and God
Together we can rewrite our future
again
Employing wills of steel and making
choices that heal
For what ever we have become, only us
can
un-become
ATEGZ
AND ETTA OKOR © 2016
//////////////////////////////////////////////
FOR
ALL THERE IS
I am not the place named by the journal
keeping Flora
This water kissing this white sand on
this beach
Also kissed the feet of the Portuguese
When they came bearing salt and mirror
as gifts to the King at Badagry
Just so they won’t make him angry
Before the days of Flora shaw
Soon as they set foot to this shore
The Portuguese unloaded their goods and
also their expectations
This beautiful Sun dried up the wetness
of their feet
This Sun coloured their whiteness with
beautiful tans
Painted them brown with crayon and rays
That Sun wearing splendor in full
regalia
Like the Buba and Agbada
Overflowing even the nails of the
native Chief
That sun rising from the hills of Udi
And setting into the rocks of Abeokuta
I am not that place imagined on the
comfort of a creaking bed
On which Flora lay on Lugard
After a moment of exhausted tension
I am Jaja
Rising from servitude to become the
occupation opposing King of Opobo
I am the restive Binin soldiers
resisting the foreign Queen and her bands
Gathered around the Kingdom to Usurp
Oba Overanwen
No I am not this depravity running amok
like a madman on fire
I am not daughters long taken from home
to score cheap points
Only coming home on the pages of papers
I am not the internally displaced
squalid
Acclimatizing for hell’s weather
I am
The art of the kingdom of Ife lying on
the south western stretch of the Niger River
I am
The Iron castings of the Nok of the
Niger Delta
I am
The bronze wrought of Igbo ukwu
boasting of reach long enough to put Onitsha on the market
map
I am the famed sculptures of the Binin
Empire
Making bronze gods taken to British
museums in the cover of night
Wipe your tears child of my loins
And weep not for sunken breasts
In no time these breasts shall suckle
again the children of my crevice
I am not a man with an end
Here I am
For all there is
And yet to come.
CHUKWUEMEKA
DEUS NJOKU
/////////////////////////////////////////
NATIVES OF TROUBLE
“Immensi, Tremmore, Oceani, who will teach my children Archimedes?”
Hell is place we once called home,
Where now the earth is dried up
And her womb would yield no crop
Because the river died of thirst.
The children and the suckling swoon
In the street of the desolate city
No corn, no wine;
Their mothers’ breast, a famished well,
A desiccated winepress.
Yes,
The suckling deprived of mother’s breast
Nib on their thumbs,
hoping that the rock cries milk.
O! Who will rob the moon of her silk
To clothe this babies,
Born into a war so cold?
What words will warm wives
Now left with no husbands to have and hold?
When it leaks through the roofs of their thatched houses
Who will save their future from drowning in the past?
Sometimes we hear sweet stories of ice cream,
Those eaten by children of strangers;
For us it is sacrilege to dream.
We live a life of pi and only hope in the god of small things
To give the last orders
For too long, we have plied the ghost road,
caressed daily by sacred hunger.
We fled home with dearth and death in our possession,
And some still long to rob us of our nothingness,
Perhaps from those who have nothing,
Much more will be taken.
Humanity is cruel and cold,
But our coldness won’t freeze the sun.
Therefore, from the benevolence
Of the butcher,
The brewer,
The baker;
Give us this day our dinner.
Tax gods and let Ceasers pay their tithes.
O how long? I ask how long?
How long shall the women and children
Eat of the crumbs that fall to the dogs?
They say the war is ending,
but to every end a new beginning.
Can’t you see that this hunger in our eyes
Is a new war coming?
And you might ask who we are,
It’s simple, you need not look too Far.
For we are the casualties from Gwosa,
The living victims buried in some camp
With no lamp,
There in Taraba.
We are the forgotten ones, marooned in Gombe and Yobe,
There where compatriots have failed to arise,
For they can’t afford rice,
And Nigeria’s call they have refused to obey.
And tomorrow when the war is brought to your door,
They will say we are this and we are that;
But please bear this in your heart,
That we do not seek to toe some lecherous father’s path,
We are just natives of trouble,
Seeking a good name for bad sleep.
SOONEST NATHANIEL
Loudthotz
(@Bheerhugz 2016)
////////////////////////////////////////////////
THE WOMEN I LOVED
There was one, a black woman
who always sat like a man,
her legs wide open without fear
for what the prying world would see.
and she would often say:
“Let them bear witness
that this lady is endowed
with an elephant-size testicle!”
There was another,
a weaver of baskets in Cameroon.
For grass she used boys’ pubic hairs,
and for rush the thicket of their eyelashes.
The twines of her wicker baskets
were men’s beards and mustaches.
She always stored in her womb,
beer, grains and the skulls of decapitated dreams.
The other, my father’s wife
said the sentences of her life
kept missing their periods,
because a lecher suckled at her nipples
before she grew breasts.
She would often sit me on her thighs
and stare me gently into my eyes,
and she would say: “Blind men see the best,
It doesn’t take a penis to impregnate a woman.”
There was another, a full Indian.
She knew the rope trick,
could turn water into wine,
and like a true daughter of Babel,
believed in breaking the rules.
The year the rice crop failed in my homeland,
she wove her webs of silk and spurned her honey traps;
I left my locks on her laps, and ate it whole with milk.
The prophet’s whore always faked her orgasm.
She wouldn’t suckle her son on her breasts,
she wouldn’t let her fawns fall;
she wanted them ever firm, ready to heed the swinger’s call.
But that which the toddler’s tongue didn’t do, time did.
Its hands fondled her wilt,
and the swinger, her milkman,
sought fresh udders in Sarajevo.
Then I turned to my sister,
but she had no breasts.
And there was nothing I could do
on the day she was spoken of
and given to a man who wears only skirts.
I loved aunty too,
but she never saw any pride in pissing up walls.
So these days I have learnt to look elsewhere,
and there forever to live
with the scars of light.
SOONEST NATHANIEL
Loudthotz
(@Bheerhugz 2016)
///////////////////////////////////////////
SONG OF THE NIGER
A lush green field of the savannah
Neighbors the desert of ceaseless water
in the plateau where my warm heart
is heated by the northern sun
and the cheeriness of the lagoon
Ignoring these, I hop
Into the city of bright lights
When highway holes port me off the lane
And the water supply ratio
Competes with electricity supply
How do I not gnash my tooth?
Until the cold of the frozen lands
Shattered my tooth in icy pain
And taught me the joy of misery
That cuddles one in loneliness
Now with all boldness I say
Home is where the heart is
Where love struggles with comfort and wins
A prayer I cite
For you my Nigeria
That you be made a bed of calmness
That soothes away all my worries
So i may seek not solace
In alien arms abroad.
LOLADE AJAYI
LOUDTHOTZ POET
© 2016
///////////////////////////
SONG OF THE NIGER
A lush green field of the savannah
Neighbors the desert of ceaseless water
in the plateau where my warm heart
is heated by the northern sun
and the cheeriness of the lagoon
Ignoring these, I hop
Into the city of bright lights
When highway holes port me off the lane
And the water supply ratio
Competes with electricity supply
How do I not gnash my tooth?
Until the cold of the frozen lands
Shattered my tooth in icy pain
And taught me the joy of misery
That cuddles one in loneliness
Now with all boldness I say
Home is where the heart is
Where love struggles with comfort and wins
A prayer I cite
For you my Nigeria
That you be made a bed of calmness
That soothes away all my worries
So i may seek not solace
In alien arms abroad.
LOLADE AJAYI
LOUDTHOTZ POET
© 2016
///////////////////////////
DANIEL
Who's da man
That comes around
To turn around
Our woes and foes?
Refrain
Daniel's da man
That's got da wit
Daniel's the man
That'll fix da bit!
Who's da man
That takes da lead
To take da lid
Off our eyes?
Who's da man
That shows our hands
The land to till
Our tum to fill
Who's da man
That drags da net
To rid da street
Of reeds and weeds?
Who's da man
That schools my man
To be a man
And man his life?
When
Whence
Comes Daniel?
For Daniel's da man
That's got da wit
Daniel's da man
That'll fix da bit!
FREDRICK DARE
LOUDTHOTZ POET
© 2016
/////////////////////////////////////
RISKY
THIS IS WHAT WE BLEED FOR?
SHED TEARS FOR?
TO RUN AROUND IN CIRCLES AND HOOPS
JUST TO KEEP RUNNING AROUND IN CIRCLES AND HOOPS?
MTCHEEEEEEEEEWWWW!!!
ME DON TIRE JOR, BABA BRING BACKS OUR GIRLS FALAFALA
BRING BACK THE WAR
LIKE YOU DID BEFORE
YES THE WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE BACK4 IN ’85 NO, 84
WHEN THE LONG, HUGE HANDS OF HISTORY SANDWICHED YOUR SHORT TENURE RIGHT SMACK INBETWEEN THE ONE WHO’S NAME WE REMEMBER RYHMES WITH CASSAVA FLAKES AND OH THAT OTHER MAIGIDA WE USED TO CALL MARADONNA
INTERESTING HOW YOU MADE IT CRYSTAL CLEAR THAT YOU ARE THE FIRST GRANDFATHER TO BECOME NOBODY’S FATHER PLEASER
YA DROVE THE POINT HOME WHEN YA ORDERED THE TERMINATION OF THE 9.3 BILLION NAIRA PIPELINE SECURITY CONTRACT AWARDED TO ALA DEM SCATTER FILTER
KNOW YE NOT BRETHREN THAT THE LAW HAS DOMINION OVER A MAN FOR AS LONG AS HE LIVES?
THIS IS WHAT THE GOOD BOOK SAYS IN ROMANS CHAPTER 7 VERSE 1
SO NOW THAT CHANGE HAS COME
IT’S NO LONGER FUN AND GAMES ANYMORE
DROP YOUR JAWS Y’ALL
EXPERIENCE THE GRAND FINALE OF BOX OFFICE BLOCKBUSTERS LIKE, ‘’CORRUPTION CRIMES’’ AND ‘’THE ABOLISION OF THE IMMUNITY CLAUSE’’
PAUSE
WHY DO YOU SCOFF NOW THAT CHANGE HAS COME
MAKE YOU DEY DIA DEY YIMU
NO BI ME WIT YOU BIN BUY KEROSENE FOR A THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED PER GALLON ON THE EVE OF REDEMPTION WHEN WE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO MAKE SOME PECULIAR POCKETS PLUMS?
OH I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU
BUT I’M DONE BEING DUMB
GO AHEAD AND CALL IT NAIVETY
FLING FACTS AND FIGURES IN MY FACE MAKING THIS MISSION LOOK LIKE AN IMPOSSIBILITY
BROTHER I UNDERSTAND THE ECHOES OF YOUR GLOOM
SISTER I USED TO LIVE IN THIS EXACT SAME ROOM
BUT NOT ANYMORE… NOT ANYMORE
I’M NOT ALONE
WHEN CHANGE CAME, IT UNVIELED A LEGION
LOOK AROUND YOU, TELL ME YOU DO NOT SEE THIS LEGION OF CHANGE AGENTS
ORDINARY PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE AND EVERY CREED
FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE
PREPARED TO SWALLOW THEIR PRIDE AND PUT ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES
IN ORDER TO RE-IGNITE THE FIERCE FIRE FROM DEEP WITHIN
THE TYPE THAT MAKES AN ORDINARY MAN WANNA DO EXTRAORDINARY THINGS
HOLD OUT YOUR SMARTPHONES AND TAP THE RECORD BUTTON
CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, IT’S ABOUT TO BE REVOLUTIONARY
WE ‘BOUT TO RE-WRITE HISTORY AND RESTORE A NATION THAT WAS ONCE KNOWN AS THE GIAINT IN THE SUN
WA JO MA YA BO BARO
WA JO MA YA BO BARO
COME LET US MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER
IT’S GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT BUT BY GOD WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING IT TAKES
AGBAJOWO NIKAN NI OLE SE O
EJEKA SO OWO PO KA LE FI IMO S’OKAN
NOW THAT CHANGE HAS COME
THIS!!! IS WHAT I HAVE BECOME
WOME UYEYE
LOUDTHOTZ POET
© 2016
EXPLANATION OF NON-ENGLISH WORDS USED:
*Baba* is a Nigerian word used for a very elderly man.
*Falafala* is a hausa word that means ‘’in abundance’’
*Maigida* is a hausa word that means young man/Mister
*Wa jo ma ya bo baro* is an Isoko phrase that means, ‘’come let us move forward together’’
*Agbajowo nikan ni ole se oo* is a yoruba phrase that means, ‘’ united we can make it happen’’
*Ejeka so owo po ka fi imo s’ okan* is a Yoruba phrase that means, ‘’let us pool all resources available and reason in wisdom together in one direction as a singular unit”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
MY COUNTRY IS WITHIN
Eleanor Roosevelt once said
No one can make you feel inferior
Without your consent
Let me not sound patriotic
For patronizing the critics
Makes them fuel the fire
That brings in its wake
The Greek gift
Within the mind the truth is told
Stand tall
Walk the talk of good stewardship
For the battle is within
A trust once broken
If rebuilt
May take another generation to bridge
That plate filled with vile portions
Of racism in the name of tribalism
That have been passed down
Eat no more
I can only change the man
Looking back at me
And make him my better self
My country is within to fix
Let the light of;
Love
Humility
Consideration
Honour
Sincerity
Hope
Shine within
IFEANYI OKWOSHA
September 2016
//////////////////////////////
BEYOND BEAUTY
I whewed unto myself
I whewed unto who cares to listen
I screeched unto them
I warbled unto all
She is a beauty to behold
But beyond beauty
My dear country is suffering
She is suffering from . . . megalomania
My expected willing whee
Became my unexpected unwilling wheel
To which I wee unwillingly
At the sight of the whittle
Whence forth is my whet to Whelm
My willingness to willingly will my will
To my beauty beholding beyond beauty
My dear country is
She is . . . stealthy coquettish.
ALAYANDE STEPHEN .T
LOUDTHOTZ POET
2016
//////////////////////////////////////
PASS ME A BEER
What is the state of the Nation?
Can anyone give an explanation
For our current situation?
Well for today lets not debate
On whether or not our Nation is great
Nor should there be a debate
On whether or not to celebrate
56 years ago there was elation
As we ... became one Nation
So chop cake, eat rice and drink wine
Relax…our Nation would be fine
Caterpillar and butterfly no be mate
So why all the complaints
One day the caterpillar would fly
But the process of #Change must go by
We must change scenes on Life’s stage
So put your fears in a cage
And plan for the blank page
Yes! The future is in our hands
As we continuously dance on the sands
The labour of our heroes
Shall not amount to zero
We stand at victory’s gate
Let’s celebrate
Let’s jubilate
Nigeria is great
We claim it by faith
Now pass me that beer
Cheers!!!
ERHIO (Loudthotz @Bheerhugz)
MY COUNTRY IS WITHIN
Eleanor Roosevelt once said
No one can make you feel inferior
Without your consent
Let me not sound patriotic
For patronizing the critics
Makes them fuel the fire
That brings in its wake
The Greek gift
Within the mind the truth is told
Stand tall
Walk the talk of good stewardship
For the battle is within
A trust once broken
If rebuilt
May take another generation to bridge
That plate filled with vile portions
Of racism in the name of tribalism
That have been passed down
Eat no more
I can only change the man
Looking back at me
And make him my better self
My country is within to fix
Let the light of;
Love
Humility
Consideration
Honour
Sincerity
Hope
Shine within
IFEANYI OKWOSHA
September 2016
//////////////////////////////
BEYOND BEAUTY
I whewed unto myself
I whewed unto who cares to listen
I screeched unto them
I warbled unto all
She is a beauty to behold
But beyond beauty
My dear country is suffering
She is suffering from . . . megalomania
My expected willing whee
Became my unexpected unwilling wheel
To which I wee unwillingly
At the sight of the whittle
Whence forth is my whet to Whelm
My willingness to willingly will my will
To my beauty beholding beyond beauty
My dear country is
She is . . . stealthy coquettish.
ALAYANDE STEPHEN .T
LOUDTHOTZ POET
2016
//////////////////////////////////////
PASS ME A BEER
What is the state of the Nation?
Can anyone give an explanation
For our current situation?
Well for today lets not debate
On whether or not our Nation is great
Nor should there be a debate
On whether or not to celebrate
56 years ago there was elation
As we ... became one Nation
So chop cake, eat rice and drink wine
Relax…our Nation would be fine
Caterpillar and butterfly no be mate
So why all the complaints
One day the caterpillar would fly
But the process of #Change must go by
We must change scenes on Life’s stage
So put your fears in a cage
And plan for the blank page
Yes! The future is in our hands
As we continuously dance on the sands
The labour of our heroes
Shall not amount to zero
We stand at victory’s gate
Let’s celebrate
Let’s jubilate
Nigeria is great
We claim it by faith
Now pass me that beer
Cheers!!!
ERHIO (Loudthotz @Bheerhugz)
//////////////////////////////////////
HERE
Here,
Princes fast
Not out of veneration to God
But Privation
Faring like outcasts in Eden
Tilling rocks with iron sinews
In the fruitless toil
To grease their stomach walls,
Yet they gawk on as their hustled harvests
And God-given treasures
Vanish into ghostly pockets
Like savings in a leaking bag
Indigence and destitution
Devours flesh like gangrene
The scions of the basket
Are bereaved by starvation.
Everyday involuntary dances ensue
Fashioned by melancholy’s song
When we lose another cadaver to the worms
So that Kwashiorkor and malnutrition
Can conspire on international TV
To re-mould our children
Into identical twins of HIV.
Knees and foreheads kiss
And caress threadbare mats endlessly
Hands flail skywards ceaselessly
Cowries and bones clatter constantly
Mumbling their own mumbo-jumbos
Deities are deliberated with daggers drawn
But all unite in supplication
Beauty for ashes, the chorus
Of our mutual, undying song.
AN N. AMOS.
Here,
Princes fast
Not out of veneration to God
But Privation
Faring like outcasts in Eden
Tilling rocks with iron sinews
In the fruitless toil
To grease their stomach walls,
Yet they gawk on as their hustled harvests
And God-given treasures
Vanish into ghostly pockets
Like savings in a leaking bag
Indigence and destitution
Devours flesh like gangrene
The scions of the basket
Are bereaved by starvation.
Everyday involuntary dances ensue
Fashioned by melancholy’s song
When we lose another cadaver to the worms
So that Kwashiorkor and malnutrition
Can conspire on international TV
To re-mould our children
Into identical twins of HIV.
Knees and foreheads kiss
And caress threadbare mats endlessly
Hands flail skywards ceaselessly
Cowries and bones clatter constantly
Mumbling their own mumbo-jumbos
Deities are deliberated with daggers drawn
But all unite in supplication
Beauty for ashes, the chorus
Of our mutual, undying song.
AN N. AMOS.
//////////////////////////////////
THE NATIONAL SIN
There is a new commander in town
And he’s written more commandments for our pleasure
Article 99,subsection 101b,
Corruption, a national sin!
Anyone found guilty:
“His name shall be written with blood ink
No monument shall be erected in his honor
His grave shall not have an epitaph
Neither should a requiem be sung on his funeral’
Our leader’s ear will tingle
When he hears we are all guilty
Of his national sin
His ear waxed blocked because
We even mentioned his name
As guilty of this among amongst several others
That we term national sin
“The man eaters
Don’t they call you brother sir?
National sin!
Cello taping together a part of the house
That wants to break away
National sin
When you engrave the descendants of the past
As the parent of the future
with national honors”
National sin!
Now declare every day a Sabbath
So that Its Lord can cleanse us both
Of our National sins.
LOLADE AJAYI
///////////////////////////////
SILHOUETTE
The day
passes
And this
vista don’t turn classic.
Each
scene my eye catches
Strikes
a loud note on my mind’s string
Whispers
of familiar strangers
In
consummate converse fill my chambers.
Born on
the wings of resonance,
Voices
inviolably- euphonious in concert
Painting
pictures with wands of emotion,
Ineffable
memoir for oils and colours
My head
in times as pallet, my heart
Rest on
God tripod for canvas.
I hear
charming pictures of landscape exist
But
silhouette is all I see.
Shall I
liken it to the blaring of horns?
Chirping
of birds or ringing of gongs.
Thou has
let me no choice,
Less to
think brief of this sweet vista
Whose
pulchritude flirt the glorious morning sun?
How my
eyes longed, yet beheld only glimpse of thy silhouette.
FABIAN MCROB UGBECHIE
No comments:
Post a Comment