WE CANNOT LOVE – Poem of the month
We are
charming books
With many
chapters
Forget our
titles
They say
very little of us.
We are not
capable of love
We've seen
so much hate
Pain,
unkindness and selfishness
We sleep in
heat to gain
We are hurt
in our bones
No massage
can loosen these knots
We think of
knives, blades
Guns and
wars to fight arch enemies
(Ourselves)
We cry
ourselves to sleep
Because we
are unsatisfied,
Anxiously
seeking life
And it's
beautiful balance
To find out
how beautiful we are
We stand in
restrooms for hours
Mimicking
faces in mirrors
And we see
nothingness
We are shoes
that kick at stones
On our way
out
We scream
loudly
We can hear
no one but ourselves
We sit
calmly
In the midst
of violence
Because we
know ours is
The anger of
serial killers
Sometimes we
have sentences of faith
Paragraph by
paragraph
We have
little words of hope
Love us as
we are page by page
For we are
not capable of Love
We can be
open to it.
Biola Bonuola
///////////////////////////////////
APHRIKE
The world is
my oyster, I live for Africa,
North South
running for West, making a well-earned nest,
Nothing
without more ado, other towns love our crew,
In lucky
bated breath… Nations long for her breath.
The world is
my oyster, I live for Africa.
New brooms sweep
clean, Africa my skin.
An Uriah
Heep? Many foes we keep,
States may
cross horn legs, my mothers lift legs,
New brooms
sweep clean, Africa my skin.
Day bread if
agege, oh my igbekere !
Tuwo of the
North's dew, oh my Ofakwu !
Cape Verda
shall eat chachupa, Zimbabwe will offer bichak chakalaka,
ariche of
Morrocco making the stage of babute in Congo,
asida of
North Africa,boerewors of South Africa.
Day bread of
agege, oh my igbekere !
Oh black Africa!
Hurray my sister.
My golden
land, in her might breathes my stand,
To be the
African joy, no change can destroy,
Hills awaig
her shine,greens know we make wine,
oh black
Africa ! Hurray my sister.
Butters of
sun will melt, may the picture of health
Smile when
heavens pour lights, may days praise our nights.
Louthodtz
comes again, happiness hold what gain?
Sandy boys
are Africa, my snow is Africa,
Butters of
sun melt, we are the picture of health.
Little
time,
The
strenuous underground construction
Will be
built not by us
But the foes
of blacks.
Each time
they sow the calabash,
It gets stronger.
Steady
remarkable progress
I prophesy,
we accommodate and
We are seen
all over the word.
The lower
part of a ram shakes
But never
leaves its body.
To be a well-organized
mind,
Death is but
the next adventure.
Let me be
plain as thunder,
And my words
straight as die,
Africa is
the zenith and pinnacle of my pride.
Ajakaye Rashida Olamidayo
STRIDA-(Striking Ideas)
///////////////////////////////////////////
THE LOST IN ZENITH
The dusk
falls on another day,
But I
have yet to see its splendor.
Birds
and children laugh without fear,
For
they don’t know the zenith of pain.
My smiles
have fallen beneath blind eyes,
And my
words upon closed doors.
The dusk
falls on another day,
But I
have yet to see its spring.
The weakness
is my heart because of the truth,
But it
refuses to listen too close.
Sunlight
awakens and brings me to life,
Covering
over the Goliath hole within.
I walk and
hope to hear her voice,
But the
silence screams in my ears.
Strive in my
heart because of the truth,
But it
refuses to listen too close.
My soul
whispers gently for her attention,
Yet the
night is my cold companion.
Anger and
frustration rack my mind,
while my
heart is wrapped in sadness.
Step by step
I continue the journey,
longing only
for the warmth of true love.
My soul
whispers gently for her attention,
yet the
night is my cold companion.
To whom do
my cries find their way,
crisp air
receiving their pain.
Hope dwells
deep within my spirit
while her
smile is burned upon the zenith.
Into the
darkness I fade once again,
When true
love break's, if the pieces
Are large
enough, you can fix it.
Unfortunately
sometimes things
Don’t break,
they shatter. But when
You let the
light in, shattered glass
Will
glitter. And in those moments when
The pieces
of what we were
Catch the
sun, I'll remember just
How
beautiful it was.
Waiting for
the light of another day,
To whom do
my cries find their way,
The zenith is
filled with tears,
Fall I most
but hope to remain,
Love has
never been a game in
Shadows I
most wait
Lord Mitzvah
/////////////////////////////////
WE LONG FOR THE HEIGHTS
We dig deep
in a bid to rise higher
We toil,
sweat and walk through fire
All in a bid
to achieve our desires
Manoeuvring
through detours and bends
All to what
end?
To grow up
Climb up
Rise up
Get to the
top
Up Up Up
What height
is right?
When can we
say we have 'arrived'?
If your
destination is not defined
You are as
good as blind
You might
climb all year long
Only to find
out something is wrong
How high do
you wish to go?
Do you even
know?
A good
financial plan doesn't make one a successful man
Nor does
erudition come solely through education
Ask the
richest man in our land
Who works
from dusk to dawn
One can
continuously toil
And never
still have it all
It is said
that 'wants are to sand
As needs are
to a new Morn'
So we will
keep digging
Climbing
And rising
Till we
realize
That to
reach the right height
We need the
help of The Light
Erhio
//////////////////////////
THE MOVE
Babe,
Today is the day
I make the move
To inch closer like
A skin and cause no
Pain but sweet ones.
I like you.
I like to date you
And in doing, hope you
Get to love to hate me
And hate to love me.
I won't
Promise you
The world, it's
Not mine but the
Devilish devil's.
But I can
Promise you
Companionship
Beyond mere words
And the ephemerals of deeds.
I like
To go places with
You, to rock boats,
Yours, mine.
I like
To ally your fears
And lay you on the sea
And trust you will
Not drown.
At least, not alone.
I like to dine
With you, with
The moon illuminating
Our paths.
I like
To have you.
Yes, to have you
Live each day afresh,
Anew and feel butterfly again.
Today
Is the day
I make the move
To be us.
Today,
Is the day
I ask you be mine.
Say YES,
And let's make
The zenith our beginning.
-Amami H.
////////////////////////////////
ZENITH-
You don't have to have
reached
the pinnacle in any
field to be too big for Zenith, Ohio except maybe you are close to Morrison's
part of the state.
There can be no talk of
zenith's without nadir's;
of heights without
depths.
Those who have attained
eminence, also encounter
and might yet encounter
great depths of pain, failure and suffering.
Zenith and Nadir like
two gods
of ancient cosmogony,
playing
off each other and
causing consternation in the constellation of poetic "stellars"!
In all our realism we
come
to terms with the true
location
of both zenith and
nadir in the realm of imagination;
as imagined and
contrived forces pulling in opposing directions on a point on the map drawn up
by a mad professor in an obscure classroom In the fastnesses of Bavaria or
Peoria, Illinois
The same one who gave
us social classifications and stratifications- calling us millienials and
generation z'
Classifications which
in line with the race- consciousness have become self-fulfiling premises for a
discombobulated generation.
Andrew Whyte
////////////////////////////////////
ZENITH
I have heard
God speak once,
In my
dreams, no I just woke up,
Right then I
heard his voice,
When I was
ten years old.
He said to
me “son . . . ”,
I know that
sounds religious
Like shall I
say a christian experience
But it was
not.
Well if I
believe God speak to me
It might as
well be a Christian experience
Well I don't
really know if God
Speaks to
people in other religions
The way He
speaks to Christians
I don't even
know if other religions
Believe God
speaks to man today.
Well the
thing is that I heard God
Physically
speak to me in the morning.
It might not
be in the morning
Like I said
it was when I was
Ten years
old and just woke up
Of course
from sleep.
It could
have been a siesta
But I
remember I heard the voice clearly
Not like
hearing voices in my head
That I do
hear too but that's a story for another day.
Not like a
feeling, you know
Like you are
suddenly convinced
From within
you, like really resolved
To do
something.
He said to
me
Make your
weakness Weak
Give your
strength Strength
He said to
me reach to the top
Reach for
the zenith
Don't look
down
Your place
is at the top
There is no
noise there
I want to
talk to you
I never
heard him like then
Maybe I have
not reached the top
Maybe I am
still striving to reach
The zenith.
Chisom
////////////////////////
ZENITH
I am cryptic
I mean to
say I'd rather live inside of myself than anywhere else
I am
a coat of many colours that never leaves the wardrobe
Or I can say
my life is a mosaic comprised of all the wrong pieces
In all of
the wrong places
Or I can say
we not only go blind when the lights are off
My tongue
tastes like everything except what it is supposed to taste like
I am a
lost journey
I am lost on
a journey
Or I can say
I'm on a journey that is lost
We seek to
find our hearts in our eyes
We swallowed
our skin in hopes we might be able to stomach the scars
We are the
stories that were not worth telling
We are the
characters who were not in the pages
We lived in
the blank white spaces at the edges of print.
Or I can say
we are flowers
Without
metaphors,
Just
flowers
Ajijola Habeeb
///////////////////////////
WHO WILL CRY FOR ME?
Oshuka!
You have passed the
nadir,
Like bee you made it
your storeroom.
The celestial is your
domain.
Chris N. John
/////////////////////////////////////////
OCTAVE
Love is an ATM
password
to a Zenith Bank
account
now frozen;
an account
from which the man
died at each withdrawal,
from which the man
died at each time
the machine spewed
enviable curses.
There are mistakes we
should have made,
but this was not one
of them.
Who knew that cash
machines had no feelings?
Who knew that cash
machines do not interpret moods?
Who now will save the
misunderstood lost in the waves
of balances
current
and ledger?
No one can save the
misunderstood
lost in the current of
balances,
seeking in the ledger
credits to pay
for back street
affairs.
No more curses from
the machine,
the password is
forgotten.
No notes on the ledger
line,
failed composer, a
wretch I die
drunk from my bad
taste of strange music.
No flags,
No loan translations,
No amortizations for
blue-collar love;
a failed bard goes
home in an octave.
Soonest
////////////////////////////
YOU KNOW
You know you are at the peak of your life
When you walk around with your breasts
Long and flat like a pair of slippers
Slapping against your stomach
And you have no cares for the inconvenience
Of a brassiere
Just as the clouds embrace the peak of the hills that adorn my mother’s village
So do I hug this age
I want to feel the warmth of my granddaughter’s love
To bask in the ambiance of my old lover’s
Presence
I want to walk barefooted into the morning
And return energized by the dew
You know you are at the zenith of life’s journey
When all that matters to you is the cock’s crow
As you shuffle to the bathroom
A grin playing on your lips
You know that a weak bladder is not the worst thing in the world
You are old
Kemi Bon
You know you are at the peak of your life
When you walk around with your breasts
Long and flat like a pair of slippers
Slapping against your stomach
And you have no cares for the inconvenience
Of a brassiere
Just as the clouds embrace the peak of the hills that adorn my mother’s village
So do I hug this age
I want to feel the warmth of my granddaughter’s love
To bask in the ambiance of my old lover’s
Presence
I want to walk barefooted into the morning
And return energized by the dew
You know you are at the zenith of life’s journey
When all that matters to you is the cock’s crow
As you shuffle to the bathroom
A grin playing on your lips
You know that a weak bladder is not the worst thing in the world
You are old
Kemi Bon
