Smith and I (poem of
the month)
I thought I‘d share a coffee with
Smith
Before
he died. You know, like sips
While
he told me things. But we parted ways.
Smith
took earths warm blankets
It
should be cozy, I thought. But I don’t know,
As no
one knows.
But we
sure miss that last coffee.
I tried
to make the bean birth warm
Conversation,
for Smith had some things
To
share.
In the
past, coffee beans made Smith beam
With
smile. I know. We sat by the café balcony
Smith
and I sip-talked a lot.
A few
more, he left unsaid. “Another day”
He
said. Another day now locked in endless wait.
If we
sat, mugs in hand. Smith had
One
thing to say. But now I know not
Was it
his sequenced relapse?
Well, the coffee didn’t happen.
Now I
sit by the café balcony
Sipping. Facing this Smith-vacuum.
Emmanuel Uweru Okoh
/////////////////////////////////
Who would save me?
A sheep to the slaughter,
bound to be killed,
with no will to resist.
So I answer, whenever it calls out
to me.
I've tried fighting one too many,
each time, I've failed.
I’m a slave bound to do
his master's bidding.
I can't call for help,
cos' many will laugh at me;
they would question my faith,
We thought, you are a Christian?.
Shame is a mold that grows in the
dark,
so I die in silence.
No one has to know,
I have a master,
that I pray, it frees me.
My addiction is an addition,
that needs a subtraction.
cos' it keeps getting higher
and my destruction getting worse.
Who would save me?
Joseph
Amami
////////////////////////////////////
The Mood Can Spell Doom
The nature of things is
Light or dark
Right or wrong
Everything is in between
Doom is mood spelt backwards
The mood can spell doom
So take care of the mood
To the man who has seen a glimpse of heaven
Death is a welcome idea
A ceremony of happiness
A victory over self
But for him who feeds his vices
Death is a topic not on the list
To be avoided at all cost
And to all others
Everything is in between
The ignorant is not innocent
For each will be tested
At the edges of mount doom
To yourself be true
Joy or sorrow will aid
As we discover what wasn’t missing
Everything is in between
Doom is mood spelt backwards
The mood can spell doom
So take care of the mood
Ifeanyi Okwosha September 2020
//////////////////////////////////////
Delicate O
There is a hole
In the side of my body
I can feel myself leaking // out of it
Every day when I sit to write
I find the world running faster
The door / shifting / running away from
the hinge
I see
This
body does not want to be just a body
Anymore
/ nothing wants to remain the same /
There is a hole
In the middle of my abdomen // like a drill eating
out a log of wood //
I want to put my mouth on it / feel the metal on my
tongue /
This must be the genesis of beautiful things
A hole
/ blood / a shriek of pain
It is difficult to do this
Close
my stomach
Stop the fingers poking out
Tell a story / tell me a story
Tell me
Not to
forget my own softness
How it is soft and smooth / like a tumour /
Delicate
just the same
How my own body will reject me
On some
days
How I will reject it also
And
maybe that will be living
Every time I feel pain
I look
behind it
Check for the lessons in its backpack
As if
Pain
never comes alone
As if
Life
doesn’t just make us
Suffer.
|
Doomsday
when a majuscular d-o-o-m
assembles under a pile of hueless
cloud banks
where wails of the cumulonimbus
grant the resonant echoes of the
trumpet
ushering in the promised eternal life
of unending dolor // or bliss
miens of the virtuous &
vicious
harrowed over the cataclysmic event
signal the arrival of the ultimate
trial
// over are days of beaming
with vivacity
Olaitan Humble
/////////////////////////////
A
poem written To Helen Oyeyemi’s book titles
What
is not yours is not yours
Leave
it alone
Don’t
go near it
Don’t
be greedy
Drop
it
Else
it turns your hand to stone
And
you crumble to dust
W
is for witching
W
is for wicked
W
is for wizard
W
is asking who
Who
are you
You
are a wizard
Wizard
of lies
Mr
Fox
Cunning
man
Plotter
of lies and all things cunning
Cunningly
you con
And
con that you are
You
steal and covet
Cunning
cunning
Boy,
Snow, Bird
Boy,
you are a fool
You
think Snow White will stay asleep forever
But
a little bird told me
That
all it took to wake snow
Was
a sliver of truth
And
so the story goes
The
opposite House
There
was an opposite man
Who
lived in an opposite house
Every
word he spoke was an opposite
He
spewed tales in confidence, He spared not a single detail
Now
his confidence is gone
and
all his tales with
Kemibon
////////////////////////////////////
STEREOTYPES
Are first impressions
Assumptions
Misconceptions
Preconceived impressions
Or actually the right conception?
The attractive female marketer
Smooth talking market hustler
Security men that greet
Babies old enough to cut teeth
The roadside police man
Rich business woman
Prominent Politician
NEPA or LATSMA official
That lady in a short dress
A guy with long dreds
The handsome lesson teacher
Or very handsome Preacher
A northerner with a machete
Even a Pastor with a private jet
Knocked up, single and homeless
Educated, broke and jobless
The list goes on and on and on
Different tune same song
So knowing where you reside
The people you know
The car you drive
The attitude you show
Comes with its own
Ramification
Classifications
And Expectations.
If a monkey doesn't eat bananas
Or a cow prefers fruits to grass
They find a way to tilt the horizon
To counter the confusion
And supply excuses
In a basket made of glass
So what's it going to be?
Discover the calm deep blue sea
Or rely on the numerous A-B-C's?
Accept the first smile
Or suspect the glint in the eye?
Go with history
Or treat it like a mystery?
Does the precedent win the day?
Will the benefit of doubt have its
say?
Or will gut feelings come into play?
Are first impressions
Assumptions
Misconceptions
Or the right conception?
Or are all victims
Just expected to have thicker skin?
One mistake is all it takes.
Erhio
///////////////////////////////////
Doom.
With love written in my eyeballs,
I hugged her shining my 36 behind her ears.
Her scent filling the atmosphere,
Bringing my memories to the first day we met.
With happiness punching my heart,
I kissed her plump cheek,
Her eyes searching for truth,
Observing all my moves.
With joy ringing in my brain,
I held her tiny waist,
Wrapping my fingers around her waist beads,
Creating a sensation that eludes her imagination.
Even with these,
She stood stiff
like a Soldier ready for war.
Then,she raised her bowed head,
And I saw her eyes beaded
With tears dancing around it.
Her lips trembling to say the words;
Words that will cause my doom.
"IT IS OVER!"
Salimon Agbeke
///////////////////////////////////////
OUR AGONY
The cloud that brought our
Woes is still up,
Painted into dark mural
Telling stories of sorrow,
Pains,
And death.
The cloud that rained
Agony
On our homes yesterday
Is up again today.
Our men’s Baba Regga
Is drenched of blood already,
Where else do we
Keep today’s flow.
Our women’s eyes are already
Emptied into lines
Of tales
Journalist told yesterday,
Where will they run to,
To fetch tears
That will ease the pains that
Will befall them
Before sun sets.
© Kolade Olawale Kabir Àdèlé
//////////////////////////////////
Opposites Attract,Or Do They?
Scientists say "opposites attract",
but does it really apply in real life?
When I first set my eyes on you
I felt a little chemistry between us.
I confused attraction for love.
I confused lust for love.
I really thought that we were made for each other..
We grew too close,we were inseparable.
It was like a negative got attracted to the
positive.
It was like North got attracted to South.
We proved that scientists were right,or did we?
I know that we all have that monster,we don't want
to awake.
We all have that spoiler we all try to hide..
But..I never thought that you'd be the one
who'd break my heart.
What I confused to be love,
turned out to be my own doom.
I found myself being beaten up,
As if I'm a boxing material.
What I confused to be love,
turned out to be my worst nightmare.
Why did you have to hurt me like this?
Why did you choose me?
(Jen da poet)Samkelisiwe Jenipher Mthembu
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Clarity
I have seen the
light of darkness and
I have seen the darkness
of light in thoughts.
I have seen the
good of evil and
I have seen the
evil of goodness in man.
I have seen the
weakness of strength and
I have seen the
strength of weakness.
I have seen the pride
of humility in doves and
I have seen the humility
of pride in peacocks.
I have seen
beautiful moments
go to ruin in semelparous animals
and I have seen beauty in ruin
when nature put forth anew.
I have dared my dread
and turned out undead.
I have been to the abyss
and feed my demons
the light of clarity.
I have embraced
the clarity of purpose.
I have embraced
the clarity of time and seasons.
So depression,
you linger here too early too late.
This soul shall not take the plunge
nor succumb to your gallous gulp.
We are too lettered to be littered by you.
No, Suicide,
you shall not be dignified,
not with my name,
not with my friends,
not with my family,
not with the weakest of man,
not with the-you reading this.
No, Suicide,
we are on the
sweet-side,
we are purified.
-Amami H.
/////////////////////////////////////
For Brianna – Part 2 – A Love
Doom
is when you look like a happy smile
And
I can’t see you for a minute
Lie
to myself it’s all ok
When
I know it’s not
That
lie can only live for so long.
Doom
is when you have a grace that requires a metaphor
And
I pretend I could do without seeing you for a minute
When
your very existence teaches me secrets of true love
If
you could speak now and say jump I will ask how high
Bri!
Chisom
//////////////////////////////////////////////
Pay
It Forward
Fear
grows as thick as weeds
in
these troubling uncertainties
All
seems trials, tragedies with
the
countless seeds of despair.
Amidst
endless news of losses.
All
feels in a shipwrecked love.
No
need for fear. Raise the faith
By
becoming somebody’s hope
By
becoming somebody’s hero.
Be
somebody’s prayer answered.
Let’s
become each other’s armour
Let’s
become each other’s anchor
Every
kindness is a dew of heaven
Every care is a glimpse of paradise
We
are stronger by lifting others up.
Be
the lift. Be the little wings of God.
Be
You!
Fr.
Michael Achile Umameh
