Apr 012011
The Race Begins Again…
they have come again to the track
familiar faces awaiting the pistol crack
and he that gets there first
shall soon have a puffed up chest
the license to rape they seek
so now they are humble and meek
the rules and the prize is theirs
all that we have is hope and fears
have they not raped us enough
and kept our fingers from the trough
have they not cut our tongues
that we may not speak of their wrongs
since we have no voice, no will
we know ‘what may’ not ‘what will
so our hope lies in the reaper
who’ll judge those that keep us paupers
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Kukogho Iruesiri Samson @xikay
Kukogho Irusiri Samson is a Nigerian poet, blogger and multimedia journalist.
Winner of the Orange Crush 1st Prize for Poetry 2012, I am a contributor to several print and online platforms.
I founded and curate popular online social reorientation Facebook Poetry 'Page Words Rhymes & Rhythm' (www.facebook.com/WRRPoetry).
Contact: kukogho.samson@hotmail.com +2348060109295)Go to Kukogho Iruesiri Samson's profile, and read more of his/her posts.
IF YOU ARE IN ANY WAY FOLLOWING THE 2011 ELECTIONS, YOU WILL AGREE THAT
the rules and the prize is theirs
all that we have is hope and fears
ENJOY READING…PLS. DON’T HESITATE TO HELP ME IMPROVE
I liked the picture you used- very apt, indeed they have cut our tongues but they cannot cut our pens- write on, i enjoyed reading this. Good one.
@elly, thanks for reading…will keep writing
and they have also not cut our resolve, Nigeria will blossom in our days. Keep it up Xikay.
I disagree with u this time though, but nice piece. We have a lot more than hope and fears…
@scopeman60, yes bro…we have resolved to make a change,…we the enlightened ones
@4ran6, i wrote this poem after speaking to some people in a village…really unenlightened and they expressed surrender….of course you know i’d try to convince them otherwise…
its just the way of things bro…
thanks
We’re not so far off anymore… I give it to our generation
@xikay, the reaper na poor man consolation oh.
Nice lines you got here.
@4ran6, you can say that again lolz…we’ll soon get it right
@jatwriter, yes thats right
Don’t forget I said so… Our generation is turning everything thing around
i’d like to see you start something
Xikay, I love the rhymes. Though i’m not too much of a poet, i could really identify with this. However, I feel this kind of thought-provoking piece need not be restricted by rhyming. And for that 3rd stanza (is it verse?), shouldn’t there be a question mark somewhere?
Abi?
thanks man…rhymes have taken over my poetry…though i write in blank verse, its easier to cook a rhyming sonnet than an equally sound blank verse….as for the question mark, you will notice that there is no single punctuation mark in the poem…it was deliberate…notice also the lower case…
you do have an apt, critics mind…keep ‘em coming sire…thanks
hmmnnn…noted.
thank you engineer.
@4RAN6, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THAT REGARD LOL…ABI NA JUST TO LOOK @ESTRELLA BLACK N WHITE FIXTURE
@Xikay: I’d vote and protect it. I’d write and educate ppl. I’d think and act. I’d…
SO U DON COLLECT YOUR OWN ABI???
I’d collect and do otherwise… Nobody can buy my vote o. I sell it to generations unborn, and keep the profit in a bank to yield interests for dem
Very Accurate. I loved the ______ (I’ve actually been searching for the actual name for the past 10 minutes or so now. Help me out!) you did in the last stanza. How you break the words, and it moves to the next line..it’s amazing!
@Ayokunle Falomo: is it enjambment (run on line)?
@4RAN6, HEAR! HEAR!! THAT’S THE SPIRIT BRO!
@AYOKUNLE THANKS….DID YOU MEAN ‘ENJAMBMENT’?
I be ur apprentice na, u’ve been a very good teacher… Hv u forgotten d assignment u gave me on it?
@4RAN6, THAT MUST BE IT
@Xikay: Yes boss…
YEAH THANKS @xikay and @4ran6… I don say it, na you two be my teacher! Better accept that as a fact! That’s the word…although I was actually thinking more of something like a line break (different from this one of course, but I’ve been trying to find the name for it for a long time for myself personally….still not satisfied though.) It’s like when a word kinda extends to the next line…. It has another name, but I forgot it…JayZ does it a lot: like in one of his songs…. Also, I’m on alto-//pilot… Something like that!
If na so, then, @Xikay na HEAD-TEACHER, I be subordinate… @Ayokunle Falomo, in Morphology, it’s called compounding (When 2 or more words are combined to form a word. For example, auto+pilot as u said above). E don tey wey I read, I go look up another lay man term get back to u.
I would appreciate it bro. Actually, where I wrote ALTO, it’s supposed to be AUTO. The word is AUTO-PILOT… that’s a single word…but instead of saying the whole word…He says AUTO, and moves to the next line with PILOT.
Let me try to make my own example:
Throwing flowers from the bouquet,
He, made her his bride, profit, you could say Lucra-
tive….
Something like that!
@Ayokunle Falomo: That would take us to syllables in English. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological “building blocks” of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic meter, its stress patterns, etc.What u just did is known as speech segmentation. It is the process of identifying the boundaries between words, syllables, or phonemes in spoken natural languages. Check Wikipedia for more
way to go @4ran6 talk about learning on NS…
Bro, na my field na… @Xikay, am I back? Still tryin to get used to d nu NS
you better be back o!
@4ran6, another thing is breath stops aimed at creating suspense …you know poetry started as oral literature like the yoruba oriki and ewi…and the greek myths told to a listening audience…RAPS and lyrics of songs are therefore POEMS….a breath pause therefore is like a rope that drags you into the next line
in your example, it would be nice if the word broken had a separate meaning which the next line negates…for example
all my sons are DEAD
to the pain that lies with me in BED
first you’ll think the sons of the speaker are physically dead then you realize that they actually are just nonchalant or oblivious of the problem that bothers the speaker
@Xikay, very lucid example u have here… Nice one HEAD TEACHER. @aryor: wey u go na?
Na school oh. I sorry, lol. Had to finish research paper, do test, all that. @4ran6 and @xikay, I thank you sirs.
@Ayor: @Xikay don teach u dis ‘sir’ thing ba? lolz. Nothing do u sha
@4RAN6, U DON FULL @ARYOR HAED WITH LITERATURE…YOUR MATE DEY FOR YANKEE DEY LECTURE AND U DEY CHAZE ONE BROSS WEY GET EXAMS FOR HERE LOLZ…
@Xikay, u don 4get those ones wey dey Kirikiri the serve terms? Na so life dey o… We suppose discourse business o. I go send details to ur inbox.
I don follow comment thread nearly forget the poem sef…..
I wish I could rhyme half as good as you do.Another nice one you got here.
Well done!!!
@LAWAL, HONESTLY ITS ONLY COS U HAVENT PUT YOUR MIND INTO IT…I WASNT BORN WITH IT…IT GREW…YOU CAN RHYME EVEN MUCH BETTER
THANKS ANYWAYS
Hmmm.
‘our generation’.
Hmm. Okay o.
Nice one tho.
this your hmmm is pregnant o
Of course its pregnant! Do I look like I’m incompetent?
This is really nice, with some political undertones. Nice job.