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| WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH ANITA OGUNI |
GAIN – (poem of the month)
I hate – really hate
the way those words bounce off your oval shaped mouth
Cruel. Sharp.
Sharp.
They slice through me
so deep. I feel it in my heart and then I bleed
But
At least you look at
me
Talk to me so I love
it
I choose to love it
I can’t stand the way
everything about me is filled with everything about you
Finding myself
Groping my way
Sadly still reaching
for you – your hands
Coarse. Cold.
Cold.
Breathing your own air
and then losing me over and over again
But
At least I feel
you
You let me feel you so
I love it
I choose to love
it
I hate the way the
claws of your love hold me down, determined to suffocate me
I hate the way you
take
Take
Take
Take
Take and take
Leaving me with less
or maybe even nothing
Loss is the only gain
in loving you.
ANITA OGUNI
////////////////////////////////
WEIGHTLESSNESS (2) – (worthy of
mention)
This intimacy we share
Makes me long for all
of you
The mornings and the
evenings
To wake up and reach
for you and find you tucked safely in a corner of my life
The warmth of Your
voice
Like the early morning
rays
Soothing
Your hands
How I long to
interlace my fingers with yours and assure you that I’ve got you
Resisting the urge to
stay aloof when we are together is a testament to my strength
You know this
I see how you struggle
too
No one else can see it
Just you and me
The dance
How we tread softly
around
These age old feelings
That have become part
of our lives
We have tried
To stay away from each
other
You know this
Yet
Everyday
I find myself longing
to reach you
Talk to you
Share with you
Laugh with you
See you
Every single time
It’s the same
The ease that is
The magic that lies
beneath
The bubbling
excitement of being close to you
I want dearly to have
free reign over your body
To grab you by your
slim waist and mould you to me
To hold you
deliberately close
So you can hear how my
heart beats
For you
I am naturally me with
you
With you I fly
Because you give me
wings
But what is my gain
If I take you and lose
my soul
The soul to give you
the purest part of me
The innocence of
platonic friends
I strive to be the
best friend to you
To be there for you
To pick your calls at
midnight and speak calm into your troubled mind
I cherish those
moments we spend
In deep meaningful
conversations
Sharing wisdom
Exchanging
knowledge
Acknowledging depth
You are deep
As I am
Sometimes I try to
imagine that you
Are my twin
This connection is
so...
There
You
Don’t know what you do
to me
Your essence
How it curls around my
entire being
And warms my heart
ever so tenderly
You
Outstandingly
beautiful
In your very own skin
You are comfortable
Do you realize how
rare that is?
You confound me
sometimes
I find myself gasping
for air
Trying to find my feet
in the sweet waters of your ever present likeness
You
Smart mouth
Always ready to banter
My steady
Ready laughing
partner
You get me
You get it
You get?
But
I’ll rather take the
pockets of joy
That your presence can
afford
Than set us up for a
disastrous end
You know how much I
want to be with her
How much she wants me
I will never take your
friendship for granted
Even if I have to bear
this burden of loving you from the sidelines
For what will be my
gain
If I lost you and lost
her?
Then lose myself in
the misery of loss?
If I’ve never said it
before
If it has never been
clear to you
I’ll tell you
I think of you in the
warmest ways
I am happy to have you
in my life
And this is all
because when I think of what love is, can be
It is you
You’re the one
That got away.
KEMIBON
//////////////////////////
UNTITLED WIN
There exists a
disability of the mind,
a continuous paralysis
that turns innocence into a vegetable.
There is no such thing
as “simple”, and there’s another level
of beauty that
darkness paints on its canvas of pains.
There is a knot in
every mind, a thing made up of confused shoe laces.
There is a nut in
every mind; a vicious empirical kind of crazy
that seeks to insert
straws in ventricles so it can suck, and suck,
And to keep sucking
till blood becomes breeze.
There is a pandemic in
the mind,
A parasitic, spiritual
colonization of body, soul and head.
A disease that answers
questions with confusing answers,
A morbid state of
confused worship and wordless prayers.
Here, laughter is a
trigger and playlists become gunshots.
Peace now turns into
an animal obsessed with vagabond expressions.
But!
There’s a healing for
every bleeding,
and to every heart
aching is a form of wholesome baking.
There’s always a blissful
remembrance after a hellish obituary.
To every loss of
truth, loss of love and loss of losses,
there’s always a
meaning that comes with deeper lessons;
A form of reliving
after several death sentences.
Now, your ears and
heart are in a choreography,
performing in a ballet
of hope
‘cause somewhere you
know you are a survivor of tombs,
A municipal
breakthrough regardless of mental graves,
A heavy baggage of
conquered battlefields.
You have become your
own gain,
the worthy Grand
Commander of your MIND’s republic.
Now, whenever you hear
the colloquialisms of the streets
in the shouts of “who
dey breathe?!!!”
Don’t bother yourself
with a loud response
Just whisper it to
your MIND and say “na me!”
Samora Akinbulumo
///////////////////////////////
WHERE'S SHE?
THE FEES WE DESERVE
*THE LAWS WE DEMAND*
There are lots to
write
There are lots not
right
Everything is
trembling
Prices are increasing
Rice is scare
Hunger is well known
Poverty is a name
Nothing is going well
Grew up and taught
Our future begins now
When there's life
there's hope
Can we bear this
struggles
Sufferings everyday
When there are better
hands to hold
Graduate doesn't have
a place
The rich are getting
rich and they can't reach out
The poor are getting
poorer and they cant pour out
Selling out our tender
children for better days
Maltreated and mocked
cause we cant meet standards
They will always say
"School is the priority"
When nothing comes out
from it
Trade, prostitution, robbering,
kidnapping, hacking and hawking becomes our goal
She got independence
But it still seems
like she still in dependence
Colonized by strange
people
Now colonized by
familiar people
The same people she
pays her dues
Politics is now a game
of monetary value instead of proper government
She have been rated
for her negativity
There's no space but
there's space for commisioners' child
Inflation and
deflation has become common race to follow
She has lost the vows,
promises and paths she took, sang and represent
There's no more
motherland because theres no care, love, attention and positive gains rather
pains
Talents are gradually
wasting
Education isn't
heard,seen or noted
Certainly this JOURNEY
HAVEBEEN SO FAR
Indeed its been a
DELAYED JOURNEY
The TIME fastening
ticks and it been thick
Definitely WE LAY ON
THE DELAY
IT AINT EASY but
JUSTICE MUST BE SERVE
CORELATION should be
put down
Its been a SUDDEN
PAUSE
Certainly all the
STORIES WILL TURN TO GLORIES
CYNTHIA MADUEKWE (#CyanahPEN)
/////////////////////////////////////////////
THE RACE
WE RUN
Gathering all we can
Insatiable are our
cravings
The haste is
increasing
As we colour our world
with inventions
Most have dreams which
once realized expands
A never ending spiral
Leading to new highs
and lows
The wants and needs
are real
As real as the
invisible air we breathe
There is no stopping
We can't wake up and
say
Hey!
We have had enough of
this air
Unfortunately some do
And many may be
thinking it
As I write this
And even as you read
it now
Every new born day
We must move
To chase our realities
Noble or otherwise
There is always a plan
Even when there is no
plan
As we journey through
life
Counting our gains and
losses
As each one gets to
its bus stop
The only real gains
colours the soul
IFEANYI OKWOSHA
/////////////////////////////
GAIN:
My fingers know how
to make profit
My hands know how
to fight
I am godly and content
Though there is a woe;
a sort of anathema
pronounced
on sloth- like
complacency
There is never
anything good to say
about lazy, laidback
and stupid behaviour.
Behaviour and not
people
We wouldn’t want to
abnormally
use people by claiming
them as loss
leading centres who
bring no gain
or profit to the
enterprise called life.
We wouldn’t want to
trivialise
their humanity by
reducing them
to moveable parts,
only worthy
of note because they
turn a profit.
Not that gain and
profit are things
to be sniffed at.
We might not be
greedy,
grasping capitalists,
but we are not
socialists
either
We are 'down' with
profit margins
and 'barons' who rob
within a severely restricted scope.
We are in Bush’s
words,
'compassionate
capitalists'!
A somewhat oxymoronic
concept,
right up there with
trickle down,
as in trickle down
economics
and not water
trickling down
in consonance with the
rules of physics.
Just indicating that
the 'dismal science'
Is dismal and not
subject to physical laws, being in real terms a social science.
Let's conclude that
only godliness
in concert with
contentment is the combination that generates not only gain, but great and
humongous gain.
The prosecution rests!
ANDREW WHYTE
///////////////////////////////////
BENEATH FAITH'S TASTELESS ARM
A million breath never
fills the longing for air
It needs and keeps taking and taking
For every life is strung to this insatiable
Need to Take, to Posses, to Become.
Life is a walking bouquet of fallacies
The limitlessness of thought gravitates
Against the brute solitariness of Realism
Hacked in the pursuit of the " What Ifs".
I question the possibilities of floating
In Deep empty waters held only
By a tiny seed called Faith
And I wonder how much it can give.
Well, I awoke to a numb stripped purse
Full of Grace and nothing More
But I can promise that this fate isn't mine
For the cold sky spreads over me one last time.
What is left after life struck me hard?
More love to give, and little oil for my lamp
And my old Soul drinks in the ample presence
Of the creator at the mating of Time and Essence.
To think that I have been there, done that
And left to die on the edge of my incertitude;
Barely hanging on like a midnight cigarette
Slowly believing in the ashes of a spoken word.
Now I crave even more to Become
For this pursuit now leverages in the "Why nots".
Every strike must be tied to a gain
Else, we drown in the fullness of empty significance.
The eyes of Judas is like swiftness in the mud
Like pursuit of greatness in the city of worms
For every take we give, we sow for a taking
So we let Grace walk free without question, without cards.
-AMARA BASIL
/////////////////////////////
BEYOND OUR
BODIES
Out here
on this sombre bridge
we walk on edges
holding barns that
never get full of deposit
Of this menace
we talk to
spirit
casting petition
with whiskering
hope
that our rendition
will plunge the heart of gods
We live in partition
(season & time)
rising up like
apparition
we try hard to forget
the nightmare of our doom
we lose count of times
the spirit smiled at us
how can we bear this
earth song chiming fire at us?
Of night and day
we scavenge in the
wild
the odour of the earth
with its blandishment woo us to a mime
how shall we escape
the plunders of the earth?
that siege us
into walls
& memorize us
into frames like artifacts
The earth is a
whore
that tame us on tongue
with rancid taste of desires
of this
adventure
we are whittled down
into silence
peeled gradually into
our own decay.
Out here
on this sultry
land
we walk on sand
holding barns that
never get full of deposit
& of this
body
we become flaccid
unable to survive the
choke slam
& like ash
we evanescence out of
earth's mirror
©The Pen Healer
///////////////////////////////////
DEVOURED
In the dark depth of a
perilous place,
the evil ones laid.
With snarls on their
faces,
and evil in their
hearts,
laying ambush in the
shadows,
relentless and wild in
their
search for a delicate
prey.
Here she comes, the
tender child,
striding unknowingly
to her doom,
with each step
bringing her
close to her
predators.
Like a Tiger, they
pounced on her,
as her eyes went wide
with terror.
Down to the earth she
was pinned,
and one by one, they
all took their turns,
making a feast out of
her,
while ignoring her
wails of anguish.
Bravely, she tried to fight,
but all to no avail,
as her attempts of
battle fired up their
adrenaline to cause
more havoc on her.
Done with their savagery,
they all slithered away,
with triumphant smiles
on their faces.
On the ground she laid,
the devoured child,
with her tears and
blood flowing, like an ocean
which overflows its
bank.
Overcome with exhaustion,
she struggled to rise,
once she tried, again
she strived, until she gave up,
resigning herself to
fate.
How long she laid there,
every second agonizing,
until death came creeping,
inch by inch,
until she was taken
away by it's cold grip.
The story of the
Devoured child.
Dedicated to all, victimised
by rape.
The Peaceful Writer
Ugwuegbu Peace Everest
/////////////////////////////
GAINS AND LOSSES
And did you fall a
shooting star,
Blazed across my sky
Then disappeared . . .
Did not know where you
journeyed from
Or what your mission
was
That you came from far
away gloom
That you were only a
part of falling debris.
But you looked so rare
and flashed so bright
I did not know that
you are only one of millions
Now i know you shone
so bright because i was in darkness
I am free now, I am in
light now
The shock of your loss
Made me see I am
brighter than you
Chisom
//////////////////////
REAL GAINS OR NOT
You gain nothing from
the sweet drizzle that tickles the plants.
Or the soft sun under
which butterflies dance
The trees may sway in
the cool breeze
But inside you sneeze
Your AC at 16 degrees
Working, sipping and
pecking
You enjoy none of
Natures treats
You miss your baby's
first steps
Your child's first day
of school
You miss birthdays and
anniversaries too
You think by providing
money it's all cool
You're alive but you
died too soon
Gone with the demands
of the ROOM
You didn't notice when
the tortoise left it's shell
When the chicken
learnt how to fly
Or when the ostrich
began to
confidently hold it's
head up high
You didn't notice till
life passed you by
No warning
No goodbyes
While some count gains
by adding extra zeros in the bank
Others by their family
name climbing in rank
Some cherish awards
and certificates on the wall
But some don't bother
counting anything at all
A rare few still count
memories that birth smiles
that make life worth
the while
So I ask what to you
are gains?
Please take your time
to explain.
For as you tally your
score
I just might learn a
little bit more
Erhieyovwe.
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