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This passionate morning, the sun sings Flashing rays and blinding beams that zings I rouse in your own fancy Feeling the petals of pink begonia all over me I look at you Hoping I could write your prayers on my lips Abundant curves in glorious symmetry I wish I could trace it’s imagery Your lips … Continue reading Ummimi [‘oo-mee-mee]
The ink stains splatter in writefights, A passage of apostrophic grandeur Lands me on the apotheosis of scare quotes Slew of praises in exclamation clanged in Punctuated claps Murmurs follow, Dotted echoes billow Wild parenthetic accusations slammed On my life’s wheels – I brake without break And land in your court, Eyebrows raised in question … Continue reading Unhinged Clauses
Of the whites and blacks, many a colour I perceive Shades of grey and other darker hues And one single bright colour piercing through Clear, yet shielded by the palette of the artist. But being where I would Aware of the essence of the glistening white It extracts the colour of prejudice … Continue reading Con-artists
Even with a thousand windows open And the many houses that lined the streets of his mind And all the shanties befitting of his status, He choose my own home for burglar Armed with naked anger, he made a forceful entry And broke my girdle Back and forth – he took the door … Continue reading Unsolicited
She’s been beating the sheets with the milkman While her loving husband is off, ranching away in the sun For them both to revel later at evenfall Even at week ten, the baby is still kicking With an anti-pill vest, basking Putting the curette and chemists to shame Now she comes seeking … Continue reading Break A Sweat
This alphabet is inhuman And it scares me in no little measure Blood, Cells, Haemoglobin all in a Sickle If only a world exist without all of these But what is music without its notes? So sigma stings this bad And drowns the promise of tomorrow At other times it is a twinge … Continue reading Sigma
Food has been central to the being and survival of mankind. For this reason, man has continued to beautify, access and embellish it in assorted ways. It continues to provide mental stimulus for thinking and merry making as well as the art. Eriata Oribhabor is accepting creatively garnished poems themed around experiences with food, poems … Continue reading Eriata Oribhabor International Poetry Prize 2013
Come on… How long does it take you to come? We could, but we won’t! Not with the wary men in black Police officers who will not believe a word Hostile judges, axing questions on the head Fingering proof from the bottom You know not of a fate worse than death How do … Continue reading Coming Forever
The leaves of experience vary in shape Even the colours are not the same Some, green, some darker Some wilted; others torn Some get angry, some get cranky Ashamed, stoic and erratic. Fouling a body does more than hurt It is sour, bitter and ghostly even while asleep Some want … Continue reading Wraiths
With your tongue, you beat me silly Because I utter a line Of that which I know not in the lingo of the English If that be the case, will you also club me a slap? For bearing double African names? – Chi-na-go-rom! Azu-bui-ke! Same names I was gifted at birth Meant to guide me … Continue reading Father Tongue
(1) It is your fault to walk alone while carrying a load To have a drink, a strong drink at that To walk alone in the dark of the night To not fight back with all your might It is your fault to not pay attention to your surrounding To make calls without … Continue reading It Is Your Fault
What else can you do than kill Hopes and plans and will What else is your use than these; Tears, pains and lease A temporary mortgage you give And return to receive your rent with grief Just headstrong without relief Not listening, Not talking, Not smiling. A blow to change mode
After birthing this fourth child Into your cold hands, O life! How much more tears would your jug take To allow for me a child at least For my patience for a heir A trophy to show the world
What else do I know Like the rhymes I blow Pushing words and lines that glow Orotund verses like the sun about to show To show the compulsive lyrical photons That reach the inner side of my kernel Apt imaginings that take me through the lakes of life Revealing the shells seated … Continue reading Word Pusher
You, The artillery of your anger Against the wall of their banter Arsenals of your mind Playing off their treachery Squabbles and strife Blood and hunger We, Into the belligerent days We’re birthed for the future You drag us Repeating the war-song of the puddles Songs and rumbles in the jungle We, on … Continue reading Our Own Struggle