How to Live
Without Your Body – Poem of the
month
In the archive
of history
A man wrote his
dreams on a scroll,
sealed it up
and posted it to the future.
Years later
this man is erased from the scroll of life, But
his dreams got
hold of his breath and turned it into an elixir and came to life.
On days when
I’m alone I see every branch of him stretched into me.
Though dead,
yet every part of him sprout to life again.
We lynch ideas
in our minds.
Our bodies have
become graveyards of aborted dreams.
Within our soul
is a silent grief
that warbles us
to a dirge.
Dail, I
uncouple my mind
to keep census
of ideas that come to play with me.
I breed
them,
And immortalize
them in the heart of life,
That I may
reappear again in another’s breath.
This is how man
lives without his body
Pen Healer
//////////////////////
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN DISRUPTION AND
STABILITY
For the
first time in a million years,
there's a
knock on my door, our door,
breath so
heavy, blow so rigid
I dare not
flirt with its' purging presence.
Perhaps, you
should listen to the walls,
unmask the
rain in this noisy silence;
Open up your
ears to the uproar ringing across the road
like the
conscious cacophony birthed daily within the heart of Oshodi.
the stamping
of feet,
unwanted
guests,
surging
sirens,
buckled
boxes,
hymnal
farewells...
all birthed
by a knock on our door
Exactly one
month & five days,
today, I'm
still trying to figure out
the why
behind the knock
where
goodbye is a good that
I'm
unwilling to buy. Never!
Shall I tell
you?
It was an
outcry who visited our doorpost with old wings,
searched
inside, through & all with a dagger
&
clipped away a fresh wing out of our presence.
With a visit
over & done with,
Still, I
must ask;
Please, find
me a rhythm that will pick me up from this tumultuous tunnel -
where chaos
& calmness look the same...
Or tell me,
what is the distance between DISRUPTION and STABILITY?
because
there is a need to fill in the gap -
a need so
sudden & we do not want to go out of control, not now or ever.
TOSIN OKUPA
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I AM BLACK
With all the
flaks
That your
soul can muster
I am what
you believe
Guilty as
you are bereaved
Truly not
giving a quarter,
If that will
give you relief
I am not the
reprieve for prejudice
I am not
lace for shoes, I did not choose
I have just
been placed as the stage
Platform for
the enraged
I am too big
for you to handle
Apple that
will not be supple...
Pressed to
earth,
Pressed to
become a pebble in your heart
You are not
suffering from kidney stones
You are just
reeling hard
Unacknowledging
your guilty soul
I am black,
used to be equal but separate
Free but
without the mandate
Feed for
fish, when the chains daze
I am black,
resplendence is me
He sees you
worthy
Leaps when
you are walking
He's still
left behind,
It's as if
you are jogging
He calls you
ugly but gets his own color wrong
He admits
you are strong
And you
would have agreed, but then he reaches for his gun
You are but
the sun,
If refused
to rise from the east
They won't
want to be there
When you do
so from the west
I am black
With all the
stones aimed at a monster
You have
tried to kill me
But here I
am, emerging stronger
I am as
black as the door that covers your soul
I am black
with all the hues that made you cry
I am from
the home that I refuse to find
I am as
black as the man who first did the kneeling
I am kin to
the man, who pleaded to be allowed to continue breathing
I am black
Same flesh,
different color
Equal
rights, different horrors
I was black
before the sailors came and built a door of no return
I was a king
in those days
Fire,
lapping up a fiery space
I am black,
coal lighting up your homes,
Posed as a
dent, blended in with a dead conscience
The Klan may
have joined the force
I will not
be your scattered ash
When the
wood succumbs
Having
rights should be not a race
And you know
I never finish second
Let me be
your reason
When hatred
becomes a mantle to dismantle
When peace
turns to pieces, let's see how you caress the shards
When
injustice is paid its wages, let's see how your ears erase our chants
I am black,
I have no other colors for rage
I am your
ignored brother, who's always been of age
I am milk
for a soul at home with kindness
I have been
a king in my home, and I have called you to witness
I have
bronze for art, gold for stash
I have
sculptures
Engraved in
my culture
I have
melodies and rhythms, so sweet it picks holes in hardened souls
I am
black
Stark in my
nakedness, when stares approaches gaze
Floating in
your thoughts,
When you
need to know how much a conscience weighs
I am beauty
in harmony with nature
Eyeballs
that scintillates
I was
Michael before I became Usain
I was Maya
before Rihanna became
I am the
softness in Jazz
With an
extra touch of class
I am the pen
pushing history to rewrite
I am Africa,
A future you
cannot wait to invite...
Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
////////////////////////////////////
Happy Storm
A happy sun
showed its face
Promising a
beautiful day
The weather
warm and soothing like a healing balm
Greeted
everyone with open arms
Plants and
flowers reflected a happy cheer
A day that
adds an extra glow to happy people
Greetings
from the airy ones
Fed the mast
to its heart delight
To set sail
in such weather
A captain’s
wish comes true
As he guides
and guards his ship
On this
beautiful day he beheld the eye
That
consumed him
Ifeanyi Okwosha
////////////////////////////////
GREEN AND WHITE
BUTTERFLIES
We
started off as eggs with legs
Putting
water in our palmwine kegs
Keeping
a clear distance
From
any form of resistance
Taking
everything with bent backs
We
couldn't risk nasty cracks
Soon
enough we had seen it all
Frustrated
we learnt how to crawl
Our
voices declaring our new choices
Yet
sadly our unsung heroes fell
Taken
down by future citizens of hell
Hiding
We
made our cocoon
Thinking
Did
we speak too soon?
Like
Pupa we now hang
Ignoring
severe hunger pangs
Avoiding
their irrational fangs
Letting
Hope sleep with the belief
That
they stand at the edge of the reef
Proudly
they continue to sin
Our
Pupa like a volcano bubbles within
1,
2, 3, 4...
We
eagerly wait to settle scores.
For
we are not eggs anymore
Like
a shark within a whale
Like
a Cat with a dragons tail
We
will bottle their dark storm
For
now we know their forms
To
us their raging storms
Are
a gust of nothingness
One
big deluded mess
Of
emptiness
It's
a shame
That
history mentions their names
Only
when we bottle their storm
When
clear skies become the norm
When
we wipe clean our slate
Only
then can we contemplate
How
high we can fly
As
Green and White Butterflies
Erhio
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
STORM
Who am I?
I am the one
that coutsied
at the first
cockcrow at dawn
Yet you knew
not
I am the one
that conveyed the wind of fear
To them that
maketh you sleepeth not
Yet you knew
not
I am the one
the abductors fear
The one the
legal men in arms save for the last
Who am I?
I am the one
that plays on the plains of the firmament
As rain,wind
and snow
Danced to the
rhythm
Of my song in
season
I am the one
christened
In shades of feminine
appreciation
Who am I ?
I am the one
fair to all
On a level
playing field
Of troughs and
peaks
Balanced in
choices and decisions
Repeated in
cycles, generation long
Who am I?
I am the storm
trooper
I am the storm
I am life
Olumide Soyemi
//////////////////////////////////
MEMORIES OF A STORM
The pain may be
dull now
But the
memories remain
You can see him
clearly
The night he
untied your nuptials
His cold
eyes
The way he
regarded you
The distance
you felt over the telephone
Not comparable
to the distance he had prepared for your arrival
His aloofness
only interrupted by his hospitality
The type
reserved for guests
You wanted to
reach him
Seek his face
for something akin to affection
You failed
The storm
started slowly
It gathered
with every act of rejection
Every avoided
eye contact
Even an attempt at making love
Was met with
absence
Pity crawled in
when he said
Lay your head
on my chest if you want
You started to
feel tightness in your belly
Alarm
Fear
Confusion
The storm
brewed
What was this
you thought?
This disregard
for the vows so proudly uttered before mankind
What was this?
This uneasiness
around you
You spent the
days of your spousal visit
In wonder
The wonder at
forever’s end
This was it
The end as your
lover called it
The storm came
in form of tears
Starting in the
very depth of your belly
It racked your
entire being with its intensity
You strong
feminist
Brought to
tears by a mere man
You thought
How could you
have stooped so low to conquer love
And then be
lifted up in the agony of rejection
You wept
Kemibon
DESTINY
HELPER,DESTINY CRASHER
Briefly,
Destiny means what happens to someone in the future especially things that
can't be change or avoid.
A Helper is
someone who derives pleasure in helping neither giving nor doing something for
a person positively and easily.
A Crasher is someone
who derives pleasure in crashing through destroying, denying and misleading.
Destiny Helper
is someone who's opportuned to help a person achieve his/her goals positively
Destiny Crasher
is someone who's opportuned to crash a person by terminating his/her goals
negatively
In life. Destiny
helpers and destiny crashers surrounds the world
Destiny helpers
are God sent just like our guardian angels.
Destiny
Crashers are sent by the devil to steal, kill and destroy.
It all lies in
the certain people you reproach or approach.
Some will be
nice outwardly but inwardly it the opposite and vice versa.
Some may act
hot tempered but they are sweet within expectations.
Some maybe
nasty just to get the target but reality they are geniune.
Some may act
churchy but they are just hypocrites.
Some comes to
direct and mislead.
Every humanity
is created by God, so certainly we act and look like God.
Its left for
you leaving out from his presence.
The journey
maybe too hectic or even so far, patience is the key to use drive away
discouragement.
Only you can
reach the journey you want to even if it delayed.
On your way, you
will meet distractions and attractions.
On your way, you
will meet bitterhearted and sweethearted.
On your way, you
will be tempted thrice just Like Satan did to Jesus.
If you keep
moving and never stop, you will get there victoriously and courageously.
Yea, its super
ok that you rest on our way cos humans aint perfect.
Yea its super
ok, if your failed from the journey cos success needs a story for history.
Yea it super ok
if you learn from your regret through the target and mistakes which is just
your miss takes.
Indeed
righteousness doesnt come at ones, you got to make it right.
Discover
yourself and your environment
Your destiny
helper and crasher is so close to you
It can be your
family, friends, enemies or even someone you never knew or met
Depends on how
you handle them when the time reach
Contented
matters alot if not you take or choose your destiny crashers as helpers cos
they advice you about luscious and living big when small or yet to be
Our talent are
God's gift to mankind
It left for man
to act kind and use it to benefit others
Everywhere and
anywhere lies your destiny whether school, club, home, playground, studio, shop,
party, church and manymore
Relationship
matters alot more than money
The more people
you meet, help and interact geniunely
The more
success stories you get and more better days awaits you
I know this
writting will be long tho helpful but its left for you reading, understanding
and putting it in as practice
I also know
your destiny helper is so close to you waiting for you to hit the line by
avoiding your destiny crasher
Its hard times
but make it as had
As a writer
keep doing what you do positively with the soft copies..Days of hard copies and
earning money in the morning are near
As a dancer
keep doing what you do positively with the short videos..Days of long videos
and earning money in morning are near
As a singer, actor/actress,
model, spokenword artist and lots more keep up with the entertainment better
days are ahead
As a student
doctor, engineer, lawyer, mass communicator and lots more keep up with the
stress of ASUU and reading/praticing better days are ahead
As a petty
trader, hustler, hawker and skillful/business analyst who's trying to make up
his/her life and his/her family life good..Better days ahead
CyanahPEN
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
STILLED HEART
There was a
time when you were the best thing that happened to me
But now we are
spent like deflated balloons
There was a
time when you were the winds that push my fate in the right direction
But now you are
the storm that wrecks my ship and push me to a deserted desert island
You told me
sweet nothings that filled my heart
Now I am only
filled with the bitter taste of ever knowing you.
Like a leaking
boat filled with regrets I scoop the negativities to stay afloat.
Cursed is the
day that a creature like you was created.
Cursed are the
years you will live as a human being
Cursed are the
grounds your sinful feet walk on
You will be
damned to pick pieces of your heart broken by others
You will never
finish picking them till you die a wretched death
You see I am
better than you
I have already
picked almost at the pieces you broke my heart into
I will just
spend a little more time to piece them together
And I will be
whole again.
Then this
raging storm in my heart will be stilled
CHISOM
