TO BIRTH A MOCKING BIRD – poem of the
month
They came with their axes and chainsaws
Off with the stem, the branches and the leaves
Chop, chop, chop and away
And with the chopping went my abode
They came with their axes and chainsaws
Off with the stem, the branches and the leaves
Chop, chop, chop and away
And with the chopping went my abode
So I drift
to the dirt of the earth
No trees to perch; no need to fly
Hop, hop, hop and away
And with the hopping came hunger
No trees to perch; no need to fly
Hop, hop, hop and away
And with the hopping came hunger
A new diet
of strange aroma and taste
Things found in the gutters and the mud
Munch, munch, munch and away
And with the munching brought new mystery
Things found in the gutters and the mud
Munch, munch, munch and away
And with the munching brought new mystery
This mystery
remained docile in my belly
Defying the defense of my gizzard
Sleep, sleep, sleep till you wake
And with the sleeping rests the mystery
Defying the defense of my gizzard
Sleep, sleep, sleep till you wake
And with the sleeping rests the mystery
Months
passed and the mystery became history
I visited new friends at a club not of my kind
Perch, perch, perch and then stay
And with the perching, well, the flirting
I visited new friends at a club not of my kind
Perch, perch, perch and then stay
And with the perching, well, the flirting
Like a
kraken the mystery was awoken
It left without a word and in search of other hosts
Linger, linger, linger and then spread
For with the lingering lay the ambush
It left without a word and in search of other hosts
Linger, linger, linger and then spread
For with the lingering lay the ambush
Hard and
swift was the conquest of these friends
And the ones who named their club POULTRY
Virus, virus, virus they cried
And with the virus came mayhem in their wake
And the ones who named their club POULTRY
Virus, virus, virus they cried
And with the virus came mayhem in their wake
None stopped
to think of themselves as the cause
In seeking the beginning that brought about the end
Perhaps, perhaps, just perhaps it could be
Apathy for the lot of one that's not of them.
In seeking the beginning that brought about the end
Perhaps, perhaps, just perhaps it could be
Apathy for the lot of one that's not of them.
End.
IFANYI MBAH
/////////////////////////////////////////
BORN
Peaceful as
a distant blue sea
Quiet and
loud like the rumbling waves
Making good
a sight to behold
The graceful
burnings of midnight lamp
Made speed a
mare pace
While
loneliness gave birth to self-control
With
nobility and respect
An
undeniable companion
Selflessness
and alms stayed not far
As intellect
and discernment
Is a twin in
this race
Making the
lion a meek goat
For in all
these you are born.
Chris 'N'
John
//////////////////////////////////////////////
JADED
I am losing
confidence
Slowly
taking inches off
like the
barber’s clipper
snips off
unwanted hair
I have
become un-wanting
Not wanting
to exist in this
Crazy parts
I am losing
sense
Dropping
seeds of common
Knowledge
like the black round pellets
Of the
goat’s anus
Strewing
them across minds
Hoping that
one ear will twerk
In
acknowledgment of sound-ness
I am losing
patience
Because
vision is naught
Yet eyes
have we
And we see
but we
Don’t sight
the trouble brewing
In the
distance
Yes, that
distant future
30, 20, 10
years
From now
when
Development
would be
Be-yond our
reach
We chuckle
now
And say
It will be
well
Alas
I am losing
mirth
Failing to
comprehend the
Cackling of
turkeys
Because
Christmas is gone
And their
laughter is no more
I cannot
laugh
I am losing
breath
Yes, I
cannot
breathe
Because the
stench of
Money
billows everywhere
Here, where
men chase after it like
The mad man
of Kalahari Desert
I lay no
claim to being a seer
But
I am
birthing this;
The sun
rises
But joy no
longer resides here.
KEMIBON
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ANATOMY OF DEATH
Death comes at its time; sometimes untimely.
Peacefully in a sleep or gruesome with a shattering
bullet.
From the sharpness of blades hacking flesh and bones
To the spilling of blood and the vicious savagery of
fire
Consuming in utter blind rage and indifferent,
Souls have been dispatched into the world beyond.
Through the throes of painful deaths
Or from the last gasps of peaceful breaths;
Life all comes to a null.
Staring at death they took to their heels.
Life to them embodied getting education,
Making money, marrying, having children and dying,
Yet trapped in the servitude of traditions
And the deceit of hopeful longevity,
Slaves they remain joyfully cuddling their chains
With profound admiration and fear of the unknown
While death with its cloak of sorrow
Plunders and pillages at will.
Prometheus from the traditions strayed.
His liver, the subject of his punishment, eaten out
Yet the glory of his theft rid the world off darkness.
The man from Galilee embraced death at the cross,
Defeated was not his cause but salvation to all.
Socrates with hemlock burning down his throat
That knowledge may stare boldface at ignorance.
Galileo endured the prison in a sacrificial grief
To keep the sun at the centre of our lives.
Moremi surrendered her freedom to the marauders
So the people of Ife may once walk again without fear.
Sacrifice and not servitude
Honour it breeds and hope gone forlorn.
Bravery and not cautiousness,
The rugged terrain to freedom it conquers.
Destruction awaits them that treat knowledge with a sneer
While embracing the narcissistic view of self.
Ye are gods little children,
Why die like mere men when death comes to all.
ADEOYE
ADETOBA
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
THE CAPRICORN
He trudged through paths unknown
Where birds had never flown
Or the wind ever blown
Searching for the throne
Made for him alone
He was offered twice
For half the price
Hot ice
An unholy sacrifice
He ignored their advice
And their eyes
The elements raged
Time aged
Relatives rampaged
Society placed him in a cage
Yet he calmly watched the stage
Approaching middle-age
Un-engaged
He paid the bills
Felt the chill and the grill
Still
He swallowed the pill
Preparing to wait until
His heart felt fulfilled
'Enemies have sworn!'
They all warned
But they left forlorn
For he remained stubborn
Then one harmattan morn
His heart was airborne
As before him stood a unicorn
The one his ring would adorn
The one for whom he had faced scorn
Happily he blew his horn
The Capricorn reborn
Erhio
He trudged through paths unknown
Where birds had never flown
Or the wind ever blown
Searching for the throne
Made for him alone
He was offered twice
For half the price
Hot ice
An unholy sacrifice
He ignored their advice
And their eyes
The elements raged
Time aged
Relatives rampaged
Society placed him in a cage
Yet he calmly watched the stage
Approaching middle-age
Un-engaged
He paid the bills
Felt the chill and the grill
Still
He swallowed the pill
Preparing to wait until
His heart felt fulfilled
'Enemies have sworn!'
They all warned
But they left forlorn
For he remained stubborn
Then one harmattan morn
His heart was airborne
As before him stood a unicorn
The one his ring would adorn
The one for whom he had faced scorn
Happily he blew his horn
The Capricorn reborn
Erhio
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PLANTING ALL SEASON
Felt it in
milliseconds
It flashed
through
It happens
In moments
of purest joy or deepest sorrow
Golden like
silence
It flashes
Like
lightening
It
transcends
The deepest
depth to the highest heights
I know the
pain of love
The joy of
sorrow
In this farm
Where I
plant everyday
My home
within and across time
I plant and
reap
Served me my
fair portion
As I
continue to plant even now
Tomorrow I
will welcome with joy
For it is
another opportunity to plant
Not a moment
to waste
Most I have
left to wither
A few I have
kept alive
My enemy
looks back at me
In front of
my friend
I see them
In the
mirror
All in one
And
indivisible
Ifeanyi
Okwosha January 2016
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
I AM ART
You are
human
But I am art
You were
born in love
I was born
as art
My life is
the craft
My inner
being is art
I transliterate
heaven and it content
From
scribbled words to clear paintings
I live with
the profession
I work with
artistry
I know art
I embrace
only credibility
I teach
imagination and character
Better than
Picasso’s Three Musicians
You teach
knowledge and science
It doesn’t
matter
I am Queen
Art
I speak like
the Monalisa
You can
surely see
Leonardo is
the beat
To my dance
You have no
chance
I declare
Art
Like the
Titan
Of Thunder
Ignoring
Hera
On my path
Art is me
And I?
I am
ordained
as Art.
Abiola
Bonuola January 2016
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
HE SAYS HE KNOWS THE COLOR OF THE
DUST
He says
everything he says is true
Every
flatter, every compliment
It is the
truth, and he sounds confident
He is
speaking into her ears
But all he
wants is her soul
He wants the
whole of her to himself
He is not
promising a very big cage, with rows like that of a shelf
Just a
platform for her to fly, for her to be her true self
3.15 a.m
He notices a
dimple, which he says is her first for the day
He notices
how her face
Shines as if
sprayed by the sun’s radiance
Then he
kneels to pray
To request
for her on-going dream to come true
When the
body is absent
And when
conversations take place
He wanders
after her voice, its milk and its texture
Then he
launches into questions
Wondering
what’s wrong
Rejecting
responses which says things are normal
As if on
steroids
As if high
on music notes from an invisible stereo
He launches
into chorus,
Into songs
no one has heard, even if music history is their focus
He says his
love for her is pure
It has been
planted ever since
And now the
sun has made love to manure
so harvests
abound
He carries
her in his arms to display to the surrounding walls
He may not
know much of the world
But he‘s
ready to proceed to war
To fight
them, if that’s what’s needed to keep her
He says he
knows what she’s thinking
Whenever
dimples berths her face and eyes twinkles
He says she
will be forever young
And joy
fills the heart to which she belongs
These are
the things he is saying
Proofs of
affections running deep
Proof of the
weight of love, which he makes light
Proof of
illuminations emerging from within, which makes a face bright
He is saying
things he knows
He is
speaking the truth and it shows
She’s
believing it too
And that’s how
the story goes…
Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
//////////////////////////////////////////////
THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE
I was born on the other side
Of life,
Where babies don't cry
But gnash their teeth,
In an attempted feat
To stand the great heat
Of multitudes clustering
Under one hut.
Yea!,a gnashing of teeth
In an attempted feat,
To stand the great heat
Of the sun.
Hawking underneath it,
As into their marrows
It sucks,dries and burns.
I was born on the other
Side of life,
There,where the hopes
Of tomorrow thrives,
On the yield of mothers strive
There,on her daily hikes,
To live as mother and wife,
In thirst and hunger strikes
To see that her children feeds
Amid their millions of
pressing needs.
Yea!,on the yields of mothers strive,
Searching like scavengers
From trash to bins,
Giving her precious life,
That we,whom to her were
More precious;might live.
I was born on the other side
Of life,
Where children don't smile,
Their best but a sigh.
Born without a silver spoon,
To eat but once in a new moon.
Yea! Born without a smile,
My best was but a sigh
For my dreams soared
Far so high,
Way beyond my reach
In the sky.
Yea! I was born on the other
Side of life
Of dreams never coming through
Of peace but for a rare few
On that line where lies
Not my queue.
Yea! I was born on the
Other side of life
There filled with pains
Like the sting of a full hive
Yea! The other side of life
Where only the God favoured
Few can survive.
I was born on the other side
Of life,
Where babies don't cry
But gnash their teeth,
In an attempted feat
To stand the great heat
Of multitudes clustering
Under one hut.
Yea!,a gnashing of teeth
In an attempted feat,
To stand the great heat
Of the sun.
Hawking underneath it,
As into their marrows
It sucks,dries and burns.
I was born on the other
Side of life,
There,where the hopes
Of tomorrow thrives,
On the yield of mothers strive
There,on her daily hikes,
To live as mother and wife,
In thirst and hunger strikes
To see that her children feeds
Amid their millions of
pressing needs.
Yea!,on the yields of mothers strive,
Searching like scavengers
From trash to bins,
Giving her precious life,
That we,whom to her were
More precious;might live.
I was born on the other side
Of life,
Where children don't smile,
Their best but a sigh.
Born without a silver spoon,
To eat but once in a new moon.
Yea! Born without a smile,
My best was but a sigh
For my dreams soared
Far so high,
Way beyond my reach
In the sky.
Yea! I was born on the other
Side of life
Of dreams never coming through
Of peace but for a rare few
On that line where lies
Not my queue.
Yea! I was born on the
Other side of life
There filled with pains
Like the sting of a full hive
Yea! The other side of life
Where only the God favoured
Few can survive.
INCREASE
NATHANIEL
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BORN!
Born to win
in the lottery that is life
Born to run
the race to death
Born to die
in a blaze of glory
Not like
Walcotts waiter who as a born loser
was born to
fail.
Born in
situ; in country
Born to rule
over the affairs of the orb
Born to run
free in the wilds
while going
walkabout as a rite of passage.
Born Again-
a Peripoesis where the center is the perimeter
Born as the
wind that blows
The thief
that comes
The tree
that bends
Born in time
and living through eternity
Carpe Diem and
the seizure of the moment
Born for a
time such as this, leading to if I perish I perish
Born in an
explosion of Revelation
Intelligent
Design or Natural Selection
The
selection of the fittest in a Hobbesian
nasty, short
and brutish World!
Or
contrariwise, a construct of loving thought
and an ache
for companionship.
Born for a
moment where alone as God is not good
Much as
alone with God is not good and so the woman came
from the
ribs.
Not Chinese
spare ribs, of course
Nothing
spare about a woman
Not the head
as a for instance- too hard, too bony, too dominant
And
certainly not the legs- too thin, stalky and spindly in some cases
She is not
to be trodden underfoot
And so, the
ribs!
Good choice
all round.
Born to be
where I am as in wherever you are be there
Mindful,
still, silent and solitary
enwrapped
and ensconced in the moment as all the mystics
old age and
new age will have it.
Chronicled
in microfiche
Autobiographed,
biographed and memorialised
if having
something worthwhile to show and tell.
In my birth
is my death, writing my own epitaph
as one
starting with the end in mind- channeling Covey
Knowing why
I was born I enter a new Paradigm
Equipping me
to engage with science in Bob Beamon- like Quantum Leaps!
ANDREW WHYTE
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
REBIRTH
Every moment
I close my eyes in sleep,
I pay by installment
I pay by installment
the
debt
I owe death.
I awake to dreams,
life springs from the grave,
we are grains.
I owe death.
I awake to dreams,
life springs from the grave,
we are grains.
There is a
path to germination,
the seeds flourish
when watered with affection;
but love is a file
lost when stored
In false memories.
the seeds flourish
when watered with affection;
but love is a file
lost when stored
In false memories.
Believes
and fears
pass for evidence,
liberty needs glasses.
There's an end to faith,
subject me under your hypnosis,
for I love the xenoglossy of dreams.
and fears
pass for evidence,
liberty needs glasses.
There's an end to faith,
subject me under your hypnosis,
for I love the xenoglossy of dreams.
We don't
fall in love
by fluke,
hope is a stillborn.
Ours is an unholy war,
Won by heroes of sand.
Yours is a bleeding heart,
acid rain stream from the eyes,
cry no more.
by fluke,
hope is a stillborn.
Ours is an unholy war,
Won by heroes of sand.
Yours is a bleeding heart,
acid rain stream from the eyes,
cry no more.
The
dogs
Have eaten the children's bread,
Yet our ship is sailing
On the river that flows forever.
Have eaten the children's bread,
Yet our ship is sailing
On the river that flows forever.
We have
passed the dark fields of pain,
We are headed for the secret garden;
It's a one way trip.
We are headed for the secret garden;
It's a one way trip.
Breathe
in
breathe out;
exhale all your delusions.
Trust me,
dispose of your suicide machine;
the rose grows from concrete.
There is music from broken flowers,
they become screens;
I mirror myself on the petals of time.
breathe out;
exhale all your delusions.
Trust me,
dispose of your suicide machine;
the rose grows from concrete.
There is music from broken flowers,
they become screens;
I mirror myself on the petals of time.
It's been a
long day,
The stars say goodnight.
We'll rise again
from where the sun sets;
Wake me when I am free.
The stars say goodnight.
We'll rise again
from where the sun sets;
Wake me when I am free.
SOONEST
NATHANIEL
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
YIELD
Life
threatening they say it is
All life
they say is His
But here I
lie as still as death
Waiting to
be swallowed by earth
Having a
boxing match with death
Death most
times wear a familiar face
But here I
am in a familiar race
Here I am
like a dead man enjoying the evening
Here I am
like a damsel thinking of leaving
Like a man
grieving on Thanksgiving
They say
dying is easy
Like lying
is easy
Stuffs I
learnt so much from a coward
I know
there’s nothing more cruel like a coward
For the back
of his head is the face of a coward
Should I die
in agony and fear?
Will I die
of grief and fear?
A love hater
is the nature of grief
I will give
the world to lift this grief
The lies we
tell ourselves to lift grief
Suddenly
death grew a conscience
And in my
stubbornness lost patience
Suddenly
knew this life is His
Left me to
take a piss
For my life
He refused to yield because it is His
CHISOM
