WORTHY OF MENTION POEM OF THE MONTH WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY KEMI BON AT LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 10 EPISODE 05 OCEAN

KEMI BON -WORTHY OF MENTION WINNER

MEET ME AT THE RIVER  - worthy of mention

Meet me at the river
Where the azure of the sky is reflected in the face of the waters

Meet me at the river
Where the trees stand close
Bowing their heads in the wind
Whispering like best friends at a wedding ceremony 
Exchanging notes on the beauty of the bride

Meet me at the river
That flows through our fertile land
Meet me where the river forks
And bids farewell to all who seek its blessing

Meet me at the river 
Where lovers gaze into eyes that swim with adoration 

Meet me at the river
Dear one
That we may render promises 
Of forever to our heart’s content

Meet me at the river
Where maidens bathe at midnight
Beseeching the gods for fertility and lasting love

Meet me at the river
My darling 

Meet me where the footsteps fade into the soft Sand at the shore
Where children love to play and dance to the sounds of the night
Children
Who walk fearlessly towards the waters with majestic steps
Longing for the warmth of the river long heated by the rays of the sun 

Meet me at the river
That we may hold hands
Stare into the pale milky fullness of the moon
And tell tales of our first meeting 

Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river
Meet me at the river 
that love may put us to sleep in its sweet embrace.

Kemi bon

POEMS READ AT LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 8 EPISODE 4 GAINING

KEMIBON WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH

LOLADE AJAYI WINNER WORTHY OF NOTE POEM

WHEN FEAR WALKED IN (POEM OF THE MONTH)

Fear walked in and

Hatred followed closely at its heels

Many fell in love with these two Brothers

Welcomed them warmly

They made room for them

Furnished it with contempt

Draped cruelty across the windows

And put pride at the door

Hatred gained many followers

Fear was the first to sign them up

While compassion looked for vacant hearts

To reside

Love covered its eyes in pity

Blind justice saw it all

There'll be no hiding place

For them

But for Corrie and Betsie

There's a place In the

Hollow of His Hands

KEMIBON

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GAINING (WORTHY OF NOTE)

Ever since mother made her choice 
I knew I would never be born
Oh how I tried to please her
When I glimpsed her placards screaming: Pro-choice!!!
I tried to do myself in
Foetal limbs curved in kick mode style
As I chewed slowly our umbilical cord

But she pays no attention to this body language
For She's newly gained a voice 
And speak she must
Against 'fenemists'
The enemy of everything feminine

And to gain herself a crowd
She spread ideas around
Thoughts, that no man would buy for free.

So out I came into the hands
Of the freedom fighters.
Black, on a cold White slab
Which earned me a quote from mother
"The beautiful ones are unborn"
It's already dark in paradise
And I was never here!!

OLOLADE AJAYI

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LOVE, WAR AND FAIRNESS 

If all is fair in love being likened to war

Then the heart is a complex playground

The battlefield for emotional Mussolinis 

With fascist sentimentality

Gaining and loosing territories

Advancing, retreating, strategizing

Philosophical cannons and bullets of words

Till poetry is born

Love is war… all is fair in both

Poetry is the fair ammunition of conquest 

And even heartless men seek to conquer heart

Playing spy games and creating alliances

To tear down the Berlin wall caused by cold wars

Appointed securities put up to hide our insecurities and disappointments

Love is both socialism and democracy

Both parties losing and gaining identities 

Yet both can fail resulting into anarchy 

Like war all is fair in love 

So we fight for it

But is love always fair?

OLAMIDE SANTOS

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GAINS

To live- Christ

To die- gain

Not as religious expression

But as lived out reality

Not the virtual/parallel reality

where the loser is the biggest gainer!

Gains- the Angelos network

Gaining weight

Gaining influence

Gaining traction

Generating acclaim

Gaining territory

From Santana- Texas.

Alaska, the Louisiana compact

Losing Bakassi

The whole Of the South Cameroon's

Losing for gain-

South Sudan, Djibouti

Somaliland

Unshackling Stalin's union

Loosening Tito's grip

Gaining Singapore- a coastland 

without a hinterland

Losing Singapore.

The geography of the world

a study in gainful losing

Losing gains made by historical annexation

Gaining poetic/prosaic wisdom

from historical association and allusion

Moving on from gains- modern, post modern, amodern

Every expression, a value addition

Using the language of Business to express the poetry of hearts

Celebrating our gains from the graininess , grime and graft of 

our joy-filled existence!

ANDREW WHYTE

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I WILL ALWAYS BE ME

When I was young

Life was slow

Growing old was a craving more than chocolate

Adding one feather after another

Being able to sit in the car and look out of the window

Shows the progress made

Life began to pick up speed

The adventures of youth, independence

And experiences 

Added to the mixed feeling of responsibility

The baffling reality

More real than rocks and water

Time seem to get shorter

That old man

Observing

With sunken eyes

That old woman

Acting her age

As decreed by unwritten rules

Is forever young

Look me in the eye

And see me 

This cloak is deceptive

Yes I have gained in so many ways

No matter how many times I change my cloak

I will always be me

IFEANYI OKWOSHA          

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GAINING

Gaining my freedom from poverty

Is like gaining my health to wealth

Breaking the spirit of idleness

In my heart was promise flaming

Just as the shinning coral of gold

 Gaining my freedom from death

Was the disaster I could not control?

Claiming my life back to eternity

Is still the boredom of loneliness?

Just as the barren land of famine

Gaining my freedom from terrorism

Was the moment the girls were captured?

Changing the political dreams to conflict

Which was the enjoy of parenthood

Just as setting the captives free

Gaining my freedom from xenophobia

Was my greatest regret of hatred?

Failing my promises of patriotism

Which was the misfortune of death?

Just as the scavengers of greatness

Gaining my freedom to marriage

Was the heritage of unborn generations?

 Dating the mysteries of immorality

In an unknown territory of waste

Just as the genetics of king Solomon

Gaining my freedom from diseases

Was the worst thing I ever committed?

Faking my skin to varnishing spores

In the circuit of incurable   syndrome

Just as facing the consequences of it

 Gaining my freedom from the Dead Sea

Was the border of unloosed waves?

Splashing the streams to revenge

As dawning of a mermaid quest

Just as the stories of folk tales

Gaining my freedom from sin

Was the sacrifice I made to love?

Flashing my past to the present

UBONABASI EKPO

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WE CURSED IT.

One Dollar is 400 Naira, sometimes higher and all depends on the seller. Blame the fragile misogynist all you can. “Puedo harcerlo mejor”  I can do better, my Spanish friend will say. He has torn our economy into shreds, there is nothing left of it. PIOUS, seated under the bridge and expecting his turn to load, caught a glimpse of a 2016 IVM, he retort “Nonsense, wish kian moto bi dis sef” and just then a 2005 DODGE CHALLENGER come past; same PIOUS exclaims “ Ah! See moto. God! Abeg skata dis wold mek wi stat afresh” and looks on until it fade.

Ojo complains bitterly how he has been shortchanged by a bureau de change while furiously demanding his change at one of SHOPRITE counters, but before he could leave, throws a jab at a supervisor: please OGA! Nigerians need KEELOGG’S not NASCO CORNFLAKES; take note, we got swag. But I can’t believe I spent all this money on few groceries; Aa! Naira no get valu egen o. Muttering under his breath.

I rather spend a thousand five at GENESIS DELUX crunching my popcorn and soda not quite excited about the much talked about SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE than pay five hundred Naira on LOTANNA featuring: LIZ BENSON, BIMBO MANUEL, JIDE KOSOKO and CHRIS ATTOR. Just on leaving THE PALMS I over hear someone say: “the Dollar is now 450 Naira o!” I shrug and unconsciously screamed: aa! aa! wish kian contry bi dis sef? Oooo yells a little boy “You CAUSED IT”, you just made me spilt my ice-cream.

IGWE HENRY

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I HAD LIGHTS

I had sunshine,

She smiled at me

On a cold Thursday afternoon

She had no words to say

but who needed words

When she had eyes

That told me

I was strong

I had moonlight,

She winked at me

On a hot Friday

She was sorry

I was about to sleep

She told me

I was ready for work

And miracles

And I believe her

I had starlight

He danced this way

And that

On a cool Saturday night

He was glad

I could stay up

So he twinkled, twinkled

And I dreamt of stories in time

I had earthlight

He was fierce and crude

On a hot Sunday night

He hardly visits me

You see

But when he does

Just like Branch

He brings good tidings

So naturally

I felt I was Poppy

ABIOLA BONUOLA

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A TROUBLED MIND

Nothing murders sleep like a troubled mind

It makes the heart a mined field left to die

It kills and leaves you to die like a bruised flower

It gropes the soul like principalities and powers

Maims the man like dainty angels with might

It feels like words spoken in love

That brought fire on the hearers

It feels like things touched in darkness

Revealed in light

Then hid in shame

It is like brothers who bother

And haters who inspire

It is like sour hearts bruised by love

Like things forgotten that hound the mind

Like fears that pound the heart

Like lost hopes that found lights

Like bleak hopes given long ropes to spark

Believe me it seems grief finds home in every age

But as long as the bruised heart beats

It  still lives

Even though bleak hope flickers like a candle in the wind

It may never die

But this you can be sure

Whether we die or live

We are still gaining

CHISOM

LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 8 EPISODE 2 REALM

KEMIBON - WINNER POEM OF THE MONTH

THE PATRIACHAL (poem of the month)

In this realm

Of mental slavery

Here

Where minds are still held captive by

The chains of patriarchy

Freedom will stretch its hands

In piety

But no man will take it

Because it serves them well

To be considered gods

When justice requests for equality

It is not a demand for sameness

But a cry for regard

Even the educated subscribe to the

Relegation of her rights

A dismissal of her rightness

Her perfectness in who

She is and can be

Freedom will peer into their souls

But no man will be stirred

Because it serves them well

To be considered gods

So surrounded by these fearful beings

Them prideful ones

She becomes subjugated

Pushed to the wall of

Society’s naiveté

And acceptance of archaic norms

She succumbs to the lies of patriarchy

Seven times seven times she forgives

His godfulness

Mercy will throw a line

But she will ignore it

Because it serves her well

To be considered crowned

In this realm

Success will drag its feet

Progress will hide its face

Because woman is not

Elevated to that place

That rightful place

Where her essence is

Celebrated

Her rights justified

Then glory will turn its back

Because society rejects

The gift of her

Intuition

KEMIBON

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MY BIRTHDAY IS MY DEATHDAY

The day I was born

I died in that realm

That realm that will welcome me

The day I will die

In joyful grief

My loved ones wished me well in my quest

Knowing we will meet again

As they bid me farewell

Just like they will do

The day I set sail

Once again

The die is cast

The path is taken

Choices are made

Knotting and unknotting

What was

What is

What will be

All is given

Nothing withheld

Revelations and promises

In continuous fulfillment fulfilled

And once again

I will have my due date

If all goes well

In the ninth month

Or seventh month

Or before my first kick or knock

To make my entrance

In these realms

Where my birthday is my deathday

IFEANYI OKWOSHA

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BABOON NATION

 This is how we do it where I'm from

We wake up way ahead of sun

Creeping out before the first cock crow

Sometimes journeying to places we do not know

All in a bid to make endless ends meet

My village is called global now

There are hardly any more trees in the ground

Just an urban jungle of glass, stone and steel

And streams now flow online, virtual is the new real

And the honking of cars has become music

I live in a place were abnormal is the norm

And you are the outcast if you refuse to conform

My girlfriend has a girlfriend who used to be a man

And my best friend's boyfriend has female organs

Together we all jump around like crazy baboons

But really how did we get here

So much hate, and wars and blood shed every where

This must be an alternate universe or dimension

Some abnormal realm, this baboon nation

But how do i get back to my reality. Sanity

It seems im living a scene of planet of the apes three

And humanity has been relegated to living in trees

Warfare is now fought by gorillas

To escape ourselves we now look to the moon and mars

Becoming baboons with alien ambitions

OLAMIDE SANTOS

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REALM 2

A sphere of authority 

where the diktat of the protagonist 

rules 

He rules the roost like a cock of the walk 

Enthralling and entrancing the extant chicks by the redness and fleshiness of his comb. 

And then what? 

Ends up as Christmas or New Years or other celebratory dinner. 

Always the fate of all those cocky ones in recent political history 

Habre, Gaddafi, Saddam and the man from the Elephant coast 

Alhaji High Chief Professor President escaped that, at least 

for the moment 

Unless of course some Habre-like hubris chases him out of Nguema's equator and then a one way ticket to the Hague. 

Young Kabila has not read the runes 

Tshikekedi is dead! 

Long may he live! 

Kagame, Uncle Bob and the Seven Soldier man remain his role models 

But tell him not to hold his breathe

The Spirit of Lumumba is breathing down his neck and the Sword of Damocles is set to fall. 

Ultimately, these men, these cocker spaniels and rulers of the roost in these realms do not bear rule 

For thine is the kingdom and power

Thine the glory! 

Let them know this! 

ANDREW WHYTE

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GREAT AGAIN BAWO?

Just because I'm Ebony
You think I'm kin to a chimpanzee
Sometimes you say it openly
Teasing me publicly
Like you own the galaxy
Feeling like human royalty
Some sort of Celebrity
Forgetting skin color is hereditary
Honestly
I'm shocked by your level of mental poverty
Normally
I'll just sit quietly
Silently
Watching your display of superiority
But the truth is we are part of the same big family
Something I doubt you'll accept willingly
But gradually
Even if somewhat reluctantly
You'll realize we are of the same recipe
I just have a bit more humility
I could blame my leaders for robbing me
Their lust for luxury
Made them murder honesty
They sold us to you cheaply
So it's hard for you to set us free completely
You noticed our energy
Bravery
And ability
So you tried to hold us down psychologically
But you aren't different from me
We happen to be on the same journey
Each location is just a different cup of tea
Hence natures disparity
Amidst which lies equality
Understanding this is the key to unity
So stop this insanity
And take things objectively
In my realm this is poetry
And I'm Gemini

ERHIO

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MINCEMEAT

Take here

The waters of her broken heart

Melted in the Saucepan of your abuse

How savoury it must taste

The generous serving of her mincemeat

Heated and stewed

Garnished and spiced.

Wash down the lingering parts of the broth

With the juice of her being

Feed your ego without relent

Till you belch from the surfeit of her broken self

Do not restrain

You are almost there

Soon you shall be done with this serving of the Lamb

Handed you as a leashed gift for coming-of-age

Bleating Ewes are not to be listened to

Their leash transform to gold

An inheritance of privilege

Conferred at the exchange of new age cowries

King of a modern transaction

The reigning of yourself in the realm of your folly

Haughty hands exiting a pouch

Cast ten shillings into unsuspecting  palms

Clutching falsehood as the symbol of fulfillment

For a daughter sown to yield increase

By a widow in a hut lacking a window

You put out the flame of her excitement 

Shillings killing feelings

This broken heart

Dripping of the blood of an anemic daughter

Carried into the realm of your alternate universe.

CHUKWUEMEKA    

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BORN LIKE THIS

We were born like this

With words as fire in our bossom

Thrust into realms like Atlantis

Slaves to words not from this world

We carried this fire in our bossom till now

We are born into this our world where words

Assume physical bodies and we can glimpse them with our bodies

Born into this our world were words punishes us when we lie

Embraces us when we dream

We speak the words our minds eye tell us

Speak like prophets with words from other realms

We were born like this

We fetch words from different realms

Bound like prisoners of war

Deliver them at the ears of all

We explore worlds with our words

Move into realms only dreamed of by few

Explore wonders of worlds untold

Live the lives of prince and princesses

Deliver nations from the strong hands of tyranny

Melt hearts, bind hearts, break hearts

Give birth to untold beauties and atrocities

We are the bearers of words

It is our lovely burden

We will carry it in this realm

And other realms only we can see.

CHISOM