POEMS READ AT OUR LAST POETRY READING ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

 

WATCH ON YOUTUBE HERE

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BETRAYED

Once bound by blood, a trust did thrive,

In darkness, trust was torn apart, a friend deceived.

Robbers’ greed, a friendship marred,

Betrayal’s sting, forever scarred.

 

CI_Mayende

Uganda

 

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WHY I CAME

I came here to float on the plains where anchors are not seen

Here within ear shots of loud whispers and singed egos

I came here to land punches where bruises count as prep

I came here for the envy of friends

Who are reluctant to learn speaking in tongues, otherwise defined as french

I came here to ignore your stares

To fight fears,

Back to sources, where pure springs won’t spring from

Sublime less on cold truths and gaping faults

I came here to open vaults, where treasures spread beyond exclusive blood cults

I came here to show up

So that caretakers will own up

I came here to spread the message of fighting clans

Offsprings off the mark in mass exodus to foreign lands

We will be third abroad and second at home,

Since number one seems an exclusive preserve of foreigners

I came here to gloat about what was achieved and what is glaringly possible

A work that was left undone, no matter the hours devoted

We could not have our way, no matter how many of us voted

I came here to let the brothers know

Cool is the gang until we reveal the curtain’s soul

A towel should not drip before it cleans

We cannot say the soil is soiled, if the land is green

I came to here to nurture,

To start the departures from a vulture’s culture

Which rises with the need

To see a sea of bodies of bended knees

I don’t want to be friends with towers that won’t bend

I won’t be keen to be kin with them, if our values do not blend

If honor is not met with true colors

Where to our shock and horror

The hands which you labored to pick up

Stands up erect, to kick off

The game of slangs

Where baring fangs

Volunteered to carry the weight of fanning flames of hate,

In stark reverse of what and how you should be repaid…

 

Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo

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BROTHERS:

 

They were not the brothers

in the game of thrones,

the sons of fortune,

though they were sons of fortune;

 

not brothers in a river runs through it,

a classic which I have not quite seen

the point of, much like Finnegan's wake

or Ullysses where only the last page makes

any sense to me.

 

Not brothers like Sonny, Fredo and Michael

of the Corleone's nor Tom and Sid of the Sawyers.

They somewhat resonated with the Biblical Kane and Abel, reprised in Archer's

Kane and Abel.

 

The grapes of wrath;

the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,

the Sound and Fury- a Shakespearean trope exploited by Faulkner,

 

on to Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman-

Millers magnum opus after the ostensibly shotgun marriage to Marilyn Monroe- Monroe not Manson!

 

There is no missing out on

the Brothers Karamazov,

Dostoyevsky's breakout,

though I prefer Crime and Punishment.

 

Neither my crime nor my punishment,

but Dostoyevsky's book which thankfully

was not as prolix as Tolstoy's war and peace

which should have been either War or Peace,

but not both together.

 

All that said Brothers must live together

with wisdom or perish separately as fools.

On that basis only is survival possible!

 

Brothers as accountants for one another,

checking pulses and judging emotions-

fiduciary, physician, psychiatrist!

 

Shaking hands to show broken barriers,

openness and vulnerability

 

Giving hugs-

bear hugs and not,

clasped hands between chests-hugs. 

 

Brother to brother

standing shoulder

to shoulder!

 

ANDREW WHYTE

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MAKING MY BED

In making my bed
I’ll want to tuck in the sheets
But I’m too jaded to be so perfect all the time
As a participant in the assembly of citizens
I observe as sojourners like me trudge on
Seeking
The elixir of life
An illusion
Or does it only seem so because our blindfolds are on
And we can’t see tomorrow?
Vanity calls out to me and it holds no joy
I am not moved by the pleasures of this world
And yet the pleasures are pleasing
Please lift this burden of goodness that I wear like a cloak
It is heavy and my path is filled with thorns
My brothers in arms understand
We walk a bloody road
And our destination, known but unknown
My songs are hallelujah
And Hosanna
While I’ll praise Him with the whole of my being
The imperfection of my essence never fails to ask questions
Those which my spirit answer with confidence
Alas the spirit will always be willing
And the flesh weak
If temptations do not take me now
Then maybe I will have a step in paradise
I’ll make my bed
I’ll make my bed               
In Ecclesiastes                   

Kemibon        

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TWO SIDES OF A COIN.

 

Like bread and butter,

We mingle and haller;

Life is for the living,

Together we hammer!

 

I sneeze, you stutter,

Together we hunger

For better or worse,

We journey on higher.

 

Tall, short, small, large,

Respect is rife,

In life as we strive

To grow in hype or strife.

 

We part to reassemble,

We laugh to rekindle,

The brotherly love we resemble,

Two sides of a coin; hommies! brothers!

 

Akata Lucy

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AN INSEPARABLE BOND

(BROTHERS)

 

I have dwelt on dreams about one that exists.

Friendships, so strong, now play a gentle twist.

In diversity, we see the true creation of a bond.

Formed of a mindset as if forged from beyond.

The alignment of souls transformed in a trial.

In unison with a vision of a votarist‘s lifestyle

Spirits bottled buoyantly, bringing benediction.

Igniting inspirations of individual imaginations.

Our convictions consolidated so conveniently.

Creating a companionship of a steady identity.

Fuelling foundations for future fraternisation.

Understandings unearth an unbeatable union.

Within, we accept each others imperfections.

As opponents constrained to different nations.

A story composed with no thoughts of an end.

The best of all brothers are mostly best friends.

 

Richard Oyibo

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MY BROTHERS

To those who know what the ocean said

To those who whisper hope

To the window of widowers

To those who listen to the rains

Glean wisdom from the tales of the wind

You are my brothers

To those who cried in borrowed pains and cry borrowed tears

You are my brothers

To those who speak the tongues of the soul

And cajole lost destinies into the right path

Write on the mind the guide to the streams of happiness

To them and these alone are my brothers

To those whose anger is short like a short breath

like the one you take when your betrothed walks up the Isle

Short like a punch, Short like a short temper

You are my brothers

 

Chisom

LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 14 EPISODE 3 - "SLITS" EVENT

 

https://tinyurl.com/LPORS14E3SLITS

Join us for an evening of poetic bliss at Loudthotz Open Reading Season 14 Episode 3, with the theme "SLITS". The event will take place on March 9, 2023, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm ZOOM

Loudthotz is an open poetry reading platform where poets and poetry lovers come together every second Thursday of the month to read, listen, critique, and review poems. If you are a poet, you can submit your poem on the theme of the month to loudthotz@gmail.com for a chance to read or perform your work during the open reading.

During the event, all poems will be displayed on a big screen, and the authors will be invited to read or perform their work. The audience will have the opportunity to review and critique each poem, and the author will be invited to discuss their work.

Attendance is free, and all are welcome to join us for an evening of poetic expression. If you won't be able to attend but would like your work to be included in the anthology for the year, you can make a payment of 1k at https://paystack.com/pay/preading. For more information, contact us at 07064384235. Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone who might be interested.

OUR NEXT POETRY READING AT LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 13 EPISODE 8 - SEVEN

 

  JOIN  ON ZOOM HERE

Louthotz Poetry Reading Season 13 Episode 8
Theme: ”SEVEN”
Venue: ZOOM
Date: August 11, 2022
Time: 6:30pm – 8.30pm

If you are a poet or a lover of poetry, turn up, let's enjoy an evening of poetic bliss together at Loudthotz Open Reading.
Feel free to share with anyone you know might be interested.

Loudthotz is an Open Poetry Reading platform where poets and lovers of poetry gather every second Thursday of the month to read, listen, critique and review poems and enjoy an evening of poetic bliss.


1. If you are a poet and want to read your poem during the open reading, send your poem on the theme of the month to loudthotz@gmail.com.

2. If you are a lover of poetry and just want to listen and enjoy an evening of poetic bliss, feel free to attend the open reading.

3. During the open reading, all poems are displayed on a big screen one after the other for the authors of each of the poems to read or perform.

3. During the open reading, all poems are displayed on a big screen one after the other for the authors of each of the poems to read or perform.

4. After the reading, the poem is reviewed, and critiqued by the audience and the author is called upon to talk about his/her poem.

5. After all poems have been read or performed, the best poem of the night is selected and the winner is presented with a prize.

6. At the end of the year, all poems read or performed during the monthly open reading are collated and published as an anthology for the year.

7. if you won’t be available and you still want your work to be read and included in the anthology make a payment of 1k here https://paystack.com/pay/preading

contact us here 07064384235

ATTENDANCE IS FREE

POEMS READ AT THE LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 12 EPISODE 6 - CHANGES

 

WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH

HOME IS NOT ALWAYS A PLACE

 - (Poem of the month)

 

Home is not always a place, but a moment built

brick by brick, breath by breath, into a house

 

of memory. Where affection calls and there is one

to love. Home is where there is one to love us back.

 

Home is not always a roof, a room, and a bed but

a place to roam, where the heart blooms and stays.

 

Home is not always a place, but meadow of laughter

There the walls are raised joy by joy, happiness by

 

happiness. No angry frown, no selfish wish nor cruel act.

There, there is food for the body and fire for the mind.

 

I have lived in enough places. Home is not always a place.

Set your house on fire. Walls are false pretexts. Be free!

 

Michael Achile Umameh

  

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RHEAVOLUTION O’CLOCK.

It is time!

Time to put money in the insurance account

Time to tell the kids things encountered in a motherless babies home

Time to get in shape for a leap off when the cannister is sighted

Time to get one’s affairs in order

Time to rehearse survival mode, in prison, exile or as guerrillas.

 

Its been the hour for ages now,

But you are just prepping,

Because your innocent son looked into your eyes as the machete was being pulled out of him

And then you saw the reflection of that boy

Who died waving the flag at the bridge, in his eyes.

Peace and unity he said. Because he knew yours will be taken away soon.

 

When the neighbors were gunned down because a chief’s path was blocked,

It was time.

When odi was crying and we unlooked, it was time

When zaki biam was razed and we were deaf to the inferno, it was time.

when herders herded lives into penury, and we snoozed our action for political correctness it was time

When Lekki toll gate was red with human wastes, we unlooked.

IT IS TIME.

 

Ololade Ajayi

 

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FOCUS 

 Isn't it strange that we've been searching for change 

But over the ages nothing really changes 

E go better

E go better

The recurring mantra

We've made it to 2022

But it seems like Change hid in Timbuktu

For everything is still the same

The never ending blame game

Selfishness 

Self-interests

Conceit

Deceit

Disparity

Mockery

We're stuck in the mud

Watching our flag drown in a red flood

Sullied

Bullied

Believing lies

Hoping Justice will fly

But Justice Truth and Peace ran away with Change

No.

Went in search of Change

Let's deceive ourselves again

Maybe it will reduce this pain

Change will arrive

Peace will thrive

There'll be no more lies

No real horror stories

Just progressive victories

Are you with me?

Are you really with me?

I've left that dream

Tired of sleeping?

Tired of weeping?

Before the land is submerged in greed

Before the apples grow without seeds 

Before 2023 beats it's drum

I'll be long gone

A change in location

Is my current destination

Not all calls start with the word 'Hello'

Same way oranges are mostly green and yellow

Are you with me?

Are you still with me?

Focus on the changes

That keep changing

But never really change.

 

 

Erhio Obodo

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AGAIN AND AGAIN

Again and again it comes clearer than a glass of water

with  the same  harmless and deceptive cloak.

 

Again and again it gradually raises its head to oppose glory

throughout ancient times  and even now in modern times

 

Again and again it brings up nothing entirely good

as the aftermath of the sins of Eve are still evident.

 

Again and again,  to intentionally refuse to listen to any news

is a means to at least retain some level of sanity. 

 

Again and again even in trying to mind personal businesses

the average believer, the simple hearted, and everyone should know

 

Again and again it's okay to  reminded 

that the times we live in are simply full of peril and it might not change

 

Esther Okekwuo

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    CHANGES.

Upward or downward,

The road leads yonder,

Left or right,

High upper or Low under!

 

For some,

Chicken soup for breakfast slowly,

Has become;

Frozen fish for dinner only.

 

Many smile,

At the upward movement of prices,

As stock even decreases,

Others cry for low income;

Take home pay,

That no longer takes them home!

Changes!

 

Changes I see,

Changes in economy,

Changes in weather,

Changes in society,

Changes sprouting everywhere,

In every sphere!

Changes,

The only permanent thing,

In the life of man I see,

Changes everywhere,

And in everything I see!

 

Akata I. Lucy.

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CHANGE:

 

What you receive after paying more than the amount demanded.

 

What the calculator driven tithe payer, demands from the usher after dropping it of, on the plate.

 

What all politicians purport to stand for, apart from those who are for continuity or who had a transformation agenda; one that operates with the anaemic consistency of the transformer in my hood.

 

Begging the question as to, change to what, continue to where and transform into what?

 

At that point the waters get muddied and we are truly bogged down and hemmed in.

 

Not by the paralysis

of analysis, as there

is no analysis to be paralyzed by; only printed cloth and bags of rice; only stuffed envelopes awash with Petro, tax, gubernatorial and other corruptly obtained and laundered and sometimes fake dollars.

 

Then deflections,

ad hominems and manic claims of entitlement to some manifest destiny.

 

A comedy of fools;

a tragic house of horrors.

 

Mephistophelean flies, from out of the woodwork.

So help us God!

 

We want change but not from Mephistopheles, Apollyon or Abaddon; not from the grandmasters of the craft, who vociferously ask us to give them the mandate or who vehemently claim it is their right to be no more a kingmaker,

but a king.

 

This one, a truly pathetic Lear-like figure- the king,

not the Jet, crying betrayal, betrayal, forgetting that chickens always come home.

He should ask those who love and want good for you.

 

We want change

as metamorphoo- metamorphosis- transformation.

 

We want change

as hupaballoo,

as transcendent excellence.

 

Not outside-in, that's why Decree 2 did not work, could not last.

 

But inside out!

Root, branch and stem;

Cooked, eaten and regurgitated as the change needed by,

We the people!

 

Andrew Whyte

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 NOW AND THEN

 

Chances are that we witness today tomorrow

So take note of the obvious and fear what it obscures

 

As they say “there is none so blind as those who will not see”

 

Take this law at heart because we may call it chance tomorrow or luck or whatever your intellect not your intelligence call it

 

For what we know is a pink unicorn may become may become common

 

Things are lost if you are not searching, you will always find when you search

The threads of fate looms steadily so what will be has been

 

Don’t be afraid of Changes.

 

Chisom