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| SAMORA WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH |
NECESSARY
MURDER – Poem of the month
Some of us were meant to chew mountains and
digest them as mere water.
But we can’t!
Others were meant to fist fight with lightning,
and become thunder in pencil skirts.
But they can’t!
We deceive ourselves,
We drown ourselves in rivers of lies,
convincing ourselves that we’re the ambassadors
of intellectual dumbness
and creative blandness.
We lie to ourselves,
refusing to admit that our tears
are expressed on power point slides,
and our blood colours
the image of heaven in its glory.
Lord! Please become a murderer,
Slaughter our doubt,
leave him in cold blood,
stab him in his arteries,
and slice his throat....twice!
We’ll press no charges, ‘cos this will be known
as the NECESSARY MURDER!
This is what we should tell ourselves;
that we’re geniuses in cool kicks,
geniuses in cool gowns,
geniuses in medicated glasses.
That we’re the ones who are bold enough
to expose ourselves to the riskiness of
feelings, and the danger zones of empathy.
So this is what we’ll do;
We would no longer be ghosts,
and we wouldn’t bother ourselves
trying to figure out who shot us.
We are Power!
We would take a seat on the director’s chair
as we crown ourselves the “King of Boys”,
We would, with cutthroat confidence, attend our
own coronation after causing a stampede at the Game of Thrones.
So, look at me!
When we step out of here
and overthinking together, with anxiety,
with their fake attachment beard,
forming beard gang, tries to talk us down.
We would stand tall,
we won’t look straight at him,
we’re not the same stature!
We look down on him.
We’d point our fingers at him and
let it touch his nose, then we say
“Alaye jo! jo! jo!”
We remind him
that we’re not mere mortals,
we’re geniuses with the brains of angels.
So, Alaye jo! jo! jo!
We are the Oscar Award winning,
AMAA Award winning, and Emmy nominated
Executive Producer, Lead Writer and,
Creative Director for every season
of our lives’ dramatically scripted drama.
We determine the FINALE! Not you!
So, Alaye jo! jo! jo!
Samora
////////////////////////////////
IF I WERE
A BOY – worthy of mention
Quick question, can you marry yourself?
If I were a boy, would I marry myself?
I suppose the words of my proposal would be
along the lines of-
Laughter, we have come a long way and I do
believe I know you better than anyone else.
I know that your mind is a library full of
books and documentaries.
I know that your insecurities run wild like a
goat let loose in the field.
I know that your smile freezes like a deer
stuck with headlight each time your anxiety brings you a meal.
I know that you’ve had your heart broken
countless times, like a shattered glass you think it can’t be fixed.
I know you hide behind words and strained
smiles and hope someone will seek you.
Well, I have sought you and now you’re found.
But this game of hide and seek needs to end.
Let’s play a game of truth and dare instead.
Before you ask, I pick truth.
Truth is, I am not hopelessly in love with you.
Truth is, love is just a fraction of my
feelings for you and…hope, hope is certainly one of them.
Hope that you will find me worthy to be the
guardian of your heart.
Hope that you will realize that having your
heart a collage of bleeding flesh and glue is still a beautiful piece of art.
I want to be the PowerPoint you switch to each
time life drains you and shuts you down
I want to be the sequel of your life in
matrimonial bliss
If I were a rapper, I would wrap my words
around your waist and fasten it with lyric strings
So with every stroke, I could create an
harmonic melody similar to the tune of my heart at every thought of you.
If I were a bird, I will soar higher than the
eagle on the wings of your smile and perch my nest on the cradle of your heart.
If I were the wind, I will sweep you off your
feet with the force of the hurricane, guiding you straight into the bosom of my
arms.
Look into my eye and behold the reflection of
love carved upon my glassy orbs.
Hold my hand, let's flow with this chemistry
igniting constrained fireworks and make the most of these colours we see.
Yes, these words may yield the power to draw a
yes from our lips.
But will you say yes, if yes subjects you to an
ever after of regrets and wails?
Will you say yes if yes is a sentence that
locks you in a confinement of your unfaithfulness
Will you say yes, if yes loops like a rope
around your neck
Suffocating you with your mistakes, flaws and
pains
Will you say yes if yes walks you down the
aisle of vanities and uncertainties you spend your fortune on.
Will you say yes to yourself, a reflection of
imperfect perfection, slutty virgin, everything wrongly right.
Will you even say yes to your shadow?
But he will, he has.
Says yes repeatedly even when our voice chokes
on our imperfections
We're not worthy to be his groom but he will,
he has
Said yes repeatedly
Like a song kept on replay, we play it on and
on in our hearings
Cause this love, this groom that says yes, is
our saviour, our friend
patiently waiting for a yes that screams from
our souls.
Yes, to come and feast at his table.
So I say yes.
Laughter_WSD
//////////////////////////////////
Finale
From the shadow of winds
To express my profound gratitude
For all the love you showed me
I wish to say thank you
from bourgeois
Finally my brethren
I bring you great greetings
In this season of love and kindness
I will ride in the shadows of winds
Hope to see you soon in the coming years
Ubong Abasi
//////////////////////////////
World without
End
It’s the perfect ending to a long season.
Finally the fat lady sings.
Like sun rise and sun down
We celebrate the falling curtains.
As new dreams await the mid wife
Aging children play in the streets
Hope is either renewed or burnt out
Like the dancing flame in teasing winds
There is no real finale in life
Just chapters and books
One story end as another begins
Till all stories end
As it was in the beginning
So shall it be
World without ends
/////////////////////////////////////
JOURNEYING
Early in the morning
I set out with confidence
My dreams are so dashing
But I lack competence
After a few turnings
I am held in suspense
The deity told me things
That triggered my conquest
I set out with confidence
My dreams are so dashing
But I lack competence
After a few turnings
I am held in suspense
The deity told me things
That triggered my conquest
If you want to fly
Then top the game
If you want to soar high
Keep up with the aim
Then top the game
If you want to soar high
Keep up with the aim
If you yearn to earn
There's the finest of gold
If you learn to discern
You'd tell hot from cold
There's the finest of gold
If you learn to discern
You'd tell hot from cold
If you want to stand
And be reckoned with
If you think you are smart
That's not all you need
And be reckoned with
If you think you are smart
That's not all you need
You may have the rhymes
Yet miss your lines
Yet miss your lines
I was puzzled
But set out to hustle
You have made your claims
I have my aims
But set out to hustle
You have made your claims
I have my aims
Soon i saw my frailties
I couldn't help but shiver in the cold
My heart ached at uncertainties
I almost lost my soul
My pace got sick from instabilities
I needed more trust in a hope
I couldn't help but shiver in the cold
My heart ached at uncertainties
I almost lost my soul
My pace got sick from instabilities
I needed more trust in a hope
The reason why I have coped
Is that I saw today in my hope
Is that I saw today in my hope
Akindele
Best
//////////////////////////////////////////
LORETTE '
A PLACE NIGERIA CAN BE’
There is a country,
a dove country Nigeria can castle,
where the masses will set tongues
on arrowed development as the united coconut
branches,
where the neglected pastures shall rise to be
valuable,
her earth shall be enthusiastically cultivated
by suits, Versace, and worthy rags,
of course we wouldn't cry lazy blood
over the extensive hunger and crave for closed
boarders.
Oh what a miracle awaits Nigeria !
There is a country,
a dove country Nigeria can castle,
where our VINCI, Strabag will rejuvenate
long distance traders,
ringing the bell of our midnight aspirations.
She will bury the disgusting darkness with
constant power,
imaginations of those crystal lights will
kabisaaa open
the eyes of young educational run ups.
Oh what a fulfillment awaits Nigeria !
There is a country,
a dove country Nigeria can castle,
where promises will be left unsaid,
for the fulfillment is as ventilation in the
forest,
' buzz hummm, hummm '
The end of tunnel sparkles joyfully
as dawn's sun
but its middle silently runs from pomposity,
a pregnant darkness.
Oh what truthfulness and moderation awaits
Nigeria !
There is a country,
a dove country Nigeria can castle,
where powerless witches will purely worship
positive possibilities,
demons will be driven by the muddy seas of
their mission,
where our Jericho will pardon no trumpet voice
to collapse it.
Oh what righteous witches awaits Nigeria !
There is a country,
a dove country Nigeria can castle,
if we tell trust to wed all of us,
weaving us concrete dreams and ambitions.
Law or thunder,
informed or a meritorious anarchist,
won't you accede her?
Our mother believes that we can make
her a seminar of the best mentorship.
Hope is no longer confused,
at the finale, we will do it !
Ajakaye Rashidat Olamidayo.
//////////////////////////
White Volcano
I, the Island Volcano erupts
I burn, I run
You run, you hide
I move with ash
My dust and smoke
thickens as white as talcum powder
Your breath and lungs
Die a smoker's death
You cry but tears aren't enough
You scream and scream
Only your mind can hear your voice
And your ears,
the vibration of your mouth close shut
You think of your luggage
In your world,
Each box holds a depressing baggage
But your secrets are so stupid now
They hold little value to those who know them
When you're depressed,
people expect you to act like you're not
When you're dying,
people expect you
To survive your wounds
So you lie face up
In a pram of some sort
Deal with the dread of your burns smelling
The sound of the drama beside you
And your feelings
And think to yourself
James Cook lied
"Why did I come here, this island is not white"
Yes, I do not even look white
I am dramatic
My steam forms a dense cloud
My base is underwater
I am round and hot
And there is no one,
No one else like me.
Abiola Bonuola
I, the Island Volcano erupts
I burn, I run
You run, you hide
I move with ash
My dust and smoke
thickens as white as talcum powder
Your breath and lungs
Die a smoker's death
You cry but tears aren't enough
You scream and scream
Only your mind can hear your voice
And your ears,
the vibration of your mouth close shut
You think of your luggage
In your world,
Each box holds a depressing baggage
But your secrets are so stupid now
They hold little value to those who know them
When you're depressed,
people expect you to act like you're not
When you're dying,
people expect you
To survive your wounds
So you lie face up
In a pram of some sort
Deal with the dread of your burns smelling
The sound of the drama beside you
And your feelings
And think to yourself
James Cook lied
"Why did I come here, this island is not white"
Yes, I do not even look white
I am dramatic
My steam forms a dense cloud
My base is underwater
I am round and hot
And there is no one,
No one else like me.
Abiola Bonuola
/////////////////////////
FINALE
By the time
I get to your grave
side
It will be twilight,
The sound of your
yearning
Would have died
Because only the night
knows
How to serve memories
Baked in the sun.
Not everyone can
Pass through this
doorway
Let me say now
What you have always
known;
There are no more
verbs
In the horses mouth.
Nathaniel Increase
//////////////////////
Swan Song
Issuing
a drawn-out
series
of notes;
Lungs
collapse
Upon
expiry.
Soonest Nathaniel
///////////////////////////
Finale a new
beginning
It is finished, is a new beginning
In the cycle of life
Every finale a new beginning birthed
For every death there is birth
The death of Atlantis was the birth of new
continents
If there was no beginning
Then there will be no end and
If there was no end
There will be no beginning
It is only that which has no beginning
That knows the beginning and end of every
beginnings and ends
Today we say it's the finale
But then it will be a new beginning
Who birthed the other, the chicken or the egg?
So do not tell me this is the finale
For the end of every labour cradles a new
beginning
At the end of today
When the clock tips over to the other side
The finale will be reborn
Every second dies for a new one to live.
Ifeanyi
Okwosha
////////////////////////////////
A
COLLECTION OF MANTRAS
Our last night was cold
It wasn’t me who sat there
I wanted to vanish and
Melt so unrecognized
Go back to that seat
Lust hastened your feet
Across the ice-coated lawn
You came to be gratified!
You drown my children
And tell me not to pooper your party
Open the prison gates
I fancy a guided spurt
I want to dance at my children’s funeral
My newest clothes will be on me
My panties and my bra all new
With those fingers again
Point them at me for gain
Let the ancestors be alert
But tell them you took my womb
And jeered at me for being barren
In human flesh Sytx is my name
Rehearsing how to die
Dying is a skill!
Next Sunday in Church
Sitting in this divine laboratory
The men apportioned the right side
The women told to sit on the left
Can we sell the priest’s regalia?
Then, I will be able to pay for my funeral
First skill in dying.
The preacher mounts his pulpit
I know the sermon already
Today’s service is for the righteous
“Two blind men cannot lead each other”
But you are wrong pastor!
Two blind men can lead each other into a pit
Two blind people leading each other
The concept of humanity and love
The heartbeat of compassion
Blindness trusts; it sees straight
Two blind people leading each other
No damn judgment will be cultivated
Preacher let us go; it is lunchtime!
While mounting the hill in daylight
Your eyes you deafened
And your hands you gelded
I crawled on in futility
Like an ant failing to master spherical
Now it is dark! And you are a nyctophile?
Bravo! On your change of status
Our last night was cold
But your looks are now even colder
The sinner canonized and incensed
The saint is interrogated
I call blindness on myself for peace
Deafness for firmness
My lips jogs in this collective enchantment
I needed more than just a mantra!
Larry
Onokpite
//////////////////////////////////////
Alpha:
"How are you?
I am grand!
What is it?
It is final.
Where are we?
At the Grand finale
holding at Le grande!"
Beta:
Sounds like dialogue written
by the writer of The dead
( what more terminal and
final than that);
written by Joyce!
Gamma:
I was shortlisted
for the final.
This is final
I am giving you
a final warning.
Welcome to the finale!
Delta:
And this, my dear friends
Is the grand finale.
All speaking
of completion
and finishing.
No back end
and no coming back
A reality which requires you
to bring your A game- which
In any case should be your
only game at any and all times.
Where in cliched terms,
you lay it all on the table,
holding nothing back.
Epsilon:
Final, finale, grand finale-
representing the end as eschatology and
as apocalypse.
The final resting place in the necropolis
managed by the
divine horologist!
Andrew Whyte
///////////////////////////////////////////
"RANDOM
PATTERNS II: A Story of Stories"
(In
conversation with the 12 monthly themes of LOUDTHOTZ Open Poetry Reading in
year 2019)
1. Spark
I once met an unholy ghost
And then I found light.
The entrance of his words
Was a lamp unto my feet
Guiding down the path, of suicide;
2. "Love is,"
He told me,
"None greater unveiled
Than by a man laying down his breath
When the noose beckons
And the stool performs the moonwalk"
3. Gone by
"Reminisce about this book of life
And you'd wish you never turned its
pages;
For if every man's foreword was a cry
Then the Author must be a tragedian"
-
This was his logic, egging me on.
4. Then
he overshadowed me
And I conceived;
As thoughts seduced thoughts
his words became flesh
Imprisoning my very soul.
5. "Ocean -
That, is what you are;
You will not drown."-
his words of comfort
Created illusions of congealed water
At the edge of the abyss.
6. Away
As I made footprints on his water
I looked afar off and saw a reflection of me
Another me in another space and another time;
That was when I discovered
That this other comforter should not abide with
me forever.
7. Jump
The ice cracking beneath my feet
Like a monster snarling, with hungry lips;
My jump is a quantum leap
From the abyss to a mountain cliff,
Yet, the warden of my soul defies the distance.
8. Hid,
I, in the shadow of the valley of life,
Trying hard to loose my mind
Yet, it feels like a cocoon
And he, a spider, spinning syllables and
weaving words;
His web of logic denies my madness.
9. Roses,
I desire, for a bed;
Weary of thorns crowning my head
Yet, his words are like a fire
In my bones, it seems
I can not shut up my woes.
10. Charge
his presence, like a shroud masking the
Sun,
Drains me of all energy;
I'm groping in the eclipse
The light I once found
Disguises doom, at the end of the tunnel.
11. Zenith
From where comes my help?
My body is a haunted house
The Opera for this phantom
I seek an escape room for my soul
I look up to the hills.
12. Finale
I have found the music of this book of
life
It reads like a crescendo
So, I will await the finale,
I will write my story,
I will live my life.
Tolu
Daniel
////////////////////////////////////
BLINDED
Repeatedly we race through the year
Days, weeks, months all fly by
Speeding to survive without checklist
Gainers and losers all alike
Swallowing sweet and bitter pills
Wearing clothes sagging like prisoners
Prisoners of disgruntled leaders
Leaders like vultures ready to devour
Predators of human race without
conscience
Singing lullaby of death like raving engine
Our feet gathering mud no longer dust
Heavy like lead reluctant to move
Grumbling not acting too hungry to think
Scrabbling for crumbs just to survive
Sons and daughters buried
Under the guise of protecting father land
With new found weapon of draconian laws
The land is crying and bitter
Weep not my child alas we go down
Rise and cry no more
Whither we go our fate is in our hands
Chika
Nnamani
////////////////////////////////
Finale
1.
First there was fire, then smoke
Our hearts are made of gunpowder
So, anything could have been the spark
We are not Phoenixes, we never rise
Yet our ashes never die.
2
Love is the best way to teach the tongue to
take deep breaths
To bury thoughts in sighs, to hold notes in our
lungs and never let them out
Love is music, best enjoyed when deaf.
3.
We hold raindrops in our eyes,
we are not afraid to cry
With every heartbreak we create rainbows
With every teardrop we tell tales of those that
have gone by
4
Once, we were notes from exotic instruments
Wisdom muddled in the breathe of sages
Once, we held out hearts in our hands, and
planted our souls on our lips
Then, the liquid our eyes birthed was the only
solid thing we own
We were whales living inside of tadpoles.
Ajijola
Habeeb
////////////////////////////////
Finale
And she lost her life
Just like that
Like the snap of your fingers
Her life slipped from her
Like poured oil on your palms
Her life said amen
The final amen.
Chisom
