Tuesday, 16 November 2021

POEMS READ AT OUR LAST POETRY READING IN NOVEMBER 2021 WITH THE THEME - REASON

 

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

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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

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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

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