WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH
WITH OR WITHOUT REASONS –(POEM OF THE MONTH)
There's a reason we give reasons
Or so I thought
For things are not always as they
ought
Some reasons are so inhumane
They are blatantly insane
It's assumed our heads lack the grey
part
Or maybe the reasoner lacks a heart
For there are levels to this art
It's amazing what authority can do
When one puts on its shoes
But one thing is for sure
Reasoning becomes a chore
For the truth may stand in full glare
Rendering blind anyone who dares to
stare
Even if unaware
Yet animals are blamed for a human
crime
Live videos defamed with passing time
And cameras claimed only on Newsline
History will remember these times
The era reasonable reasoning suffered
great pain.
There's a reason why we give reasons
But some reasons should be taken to
the grave.
For beyond all reasonable doubt
We are better off without.
Erhio
////////////////////////////////////
REASON
Common sense is not common.
When the prickles of death urges a reflection on
life,
It is wisdom from the old that provides a
template to live.
Common sense is not common.
The earth revolves around the sun and moon,
around the earth,
Our simple, feeble minds will continue to wander
till light comes.
Common sense is not common.
We go round in circles, repeating same mistakes
and expecting a change.
Giving birth to lives hooked on the vicious
cycle.
Common sense is not common.
"One day, e go better"
A lie that perpetually rips off creativity and
innovation.
Common sense is not common.
Break out from the norm; break out of the box.
Engage your instincts; understand the times and seasons.
REHTSE Thinks out – Esther
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
REASON:
When you know why
When you know the reason you can face
all the what’s- the effects
Reasons conceived by reason
make you consequential.
Which leads to being substantial
and resilient in the face of the
winds
of the day
To reason, life is by definition
tragicomic and so you can laugh
and cry, sometimes at the same
time and the same things
And thus you maintain your sanity
in the face of the demotic and the
chaotic
Out of all this and by reason you
bring out Cosmos- the orderly arrangement of all things
You bring Mana the opposite of Taboo
Mana and not manna which was a
question not from the cerebellum where reason resides, but from visceral and
borderline feral responses to a thing not understood.
Reason must be tempered by emotion;
Emotion not sentiment
Not foolish fads, fears, and fancies
but emotion rooted in the observation
of actual reality
No play acting at being a prima
Donna, who is merely a larger than life rendition of an OIK- an over
indulged kid;
The consequence of abjuring
reason and calling it abstruse
and cold
Reason
Rationale
Not the rational lie that
is a rationalisation that avoids
acceptance and responsibility
Reason that cuts through the fatty
tissue and miasma of emotionalism and deception and brings the raw unvarnished
truth of our National notional condition and proffers solutions
That kind of Reason!
Andrew Whyte
///////////////////////////////////////////////
REASON.
Not one, not two, but many reasons,
Why one sky should remain the umbrella
of every part,
Covered in green/white/green.
Not one, not two, but many cogent reasons,
Why the Rising Sun should be brothers and respond
Alekun Salam , Ekaro,
To their brethren at the extreme while caressing their middle.
Not one, not two, but many reasons;
Too many reasons why the children nourished with Ekpombe
and Kuka on Ututu-oma,
Should be allowed to cry out with one voice;
In brotherhood we stand!
Reasons,
Reasons as many as we are of one source;
Edumare, Chineke, Allah Shine Ubangiji,
We all come from Eden, Daura, Ile Ife ....
Our fathers never knew the difference between
Kunu and Palm wine.
Our mothers never knew who conjured best,
The sacred calabash filled with Sarkin Masara, Atta Dindin,
or Ofe Nsala,
Let alone Ukodo, Edikaikong and their counterparts!
Fatima did not mind Kemi's looks,
Adamu did not mind Yetunde' s laughter or Ada's talk.
All along the lines, from east, west, north, south
And even centre,
Everyone gathered to hear Baba Asaro' s moonlight tales.
But look!
The village monkey
Has gone away to the market and seems
not to want to return!
Mama Uche now complains about Iya Moji' s looks,
Papa Adamu says that John Paul is arrogant;
Who will bell the cat?
Reason with reasons I say,
Before the fence falls ,
And the enemies invade,
For when two brothers fight,
It is the enemy who inherits,
Their father's barn!
With light, with sight and foresight,
Reason with reasons,
Why we must say again;
In brotherhood we stand!
Akata I Lucy.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Umuno Adjudicators
When
mother summoned,
and you appear on bended
knees before the adjudicators,
chances are,
your sins would be
forgiven but not forgotten.
Be you the accused
or the accuser,
Be you the victim
or the villain,
Be yo the offended
or the offender,
Here,
the gods do
not grant acquittal,
solely
on a humble demeanour,
requitals must be served at their
feet.
-Amami H.
////////////////////////////////////
When You See Me
Your first thought is: Aborigine,
Mouth: small and made pouty for a
purpose.
Body: molded by the gods.
Present: luxurious
Future: bedazzling
Problems: none!
What you do not see is,
My lacerated heart that speaks of
deep pain and nurse objectified wounds
the invisible gun to my throat,
Dictating perfection of me from my lover
Scars that adorns my body but adds no
statement to the discourse on femininity.
So, I cover it up, like a woman
wearing stilettos, you only see the beauty and not the pain.
I am not my hair, yet every other day
I’m labelled through its texture:
wild, straight, strange, queer,
thick, hard, sexy, or bouncy.
In public, I am to appeal to his
physic, and in private, his psyche.
An anatomical piece of work that
determines the strength of a woman through her limits.
I am abundant in lack of empathy that
I receive from people who wish to be like me,
And on the day I cannot take it any
longer, I publicly strip,
Strip myself of the blood diamonds
and the judging minds,
Of societal dictates that told me not
to look back at my past,
To my root I return, I am naked yet
unashamed
Unmasked but breathing free,
Now When You See Me, your
first thought will be:
This is how it feels to be your own
god.
Lolade
/////////////////////////////////////////
REASON
I stand in my mother’s custody
To make, mend and model characters
Where my motherly attitude started
occurring
First was my menstruation
paused
In which I had an initial experience
A feeling of adopting a new issue
Walking along the line
Depression and hemophilia showed
up
Waiting for my accumulation
Little did I know
Weighed by problems and challenges
Started a new revolution in my
body
Immediately,
Was an annoying sensation within me
Feeling cherished by old
families
Waiting for my ammunition
Little did I know
Procrastination kept him away from me
Because he would have being killed
I stand in your custody
To nuture and torture life
Where my inner being comes from
I felt lost in my thought
A wide road without distance
Walking along the line
Poverty starred right in my
face
Waiting for my acceptance
Little did I know
A strange look in my eyeballs
Started provoking stagnation
Suddenly,
Hunger and starvation
Played an eminent role in all
Waiting for my acceptance
Little did I know
I was confined to eternal
suffering
A wasted life to spiritual
debt
Ubong Abasi
///////////////////////////////////////////
Reason
An expression of thoughts totally upgraded
Illusions composed and fully filtered
Illogic, in thoughts but logically deliberated
Mentally minded, unconsciously escalated
Explicit feelings with concluding judgements
Inferences of acts with calculated involvement
Divisions of minds, producing incentive statements
Endlessly pointing to facts of intelligence
Nerves at edge having irrational deliberations
Confirmed ideas with inconclusive expressions
Processed proportions of partial expressions
To an end - the existence of balancing decisions
By Richard Oyibo
