I am the product of an aged heritage, My father's fathers were erudite sages With replete basins of wisdom. Out of me came fifty-three vast kingdoms My skin is a glittering coal, Gleaming like a ripe avocado. I am the rubbles of darkness in the night And still the stripes of brightness at night [...]
This poem begins at the end of all life. It starts with full stops and has no commas. It starts with the sound of tepid stagnant water; With silence and stillness. This poem should begin with everything that love and life should be. Rainbows. Laughter. Songs. Pictures. Hugs. Smiles. Joy. But this poem [...]
i I do not belong here. passion has brought me into this place. The walls here are full of faces, Familiar faces of street urchins Who beg solemn alms from dawn to dusk. I am here in this place of tussles Where muscles are stretched in the struggle for survival. The men [...]
i. I learnt that a mother that breastfeeds wakes the compound at dawn with smoke from the kitchen hut before the first cock’s crow I learnt that you should never plant a seed yam with its anus facing where the sun rises And not to wrestle fingers for the meat in the soup [...]
The first day you saw your own image, it was like a nightmare. You were wide awake, yet unconscious. You jerked suddenly into wakefulness, coughing out your lungs and staring into the face of this stranger in front of you. A stranger you didn’t know was there, who looked every inch like you. He was [...]
We do not give birth to the girl child like we do the boys, This is the reason the world doesn't belong to them. Daughter, this is how you know the world does not belong to you; You sit, walk and stand among boys With a posture manual clipped under your dress. [...]
Botoso was singing some innocent rhyme about the horrors of the great change at the top of his lungs. It was a new phase, and Lara was fervently hoping that it would pass as quickly as the rest had. It seemed only last week that the little five-year-old had contented himself with running around inside [...]
I try counting the dirges that have passed through me The way water passes the borders of rocks And I lost my fingers to a certain tremor. This is not me telling you what I have passed through, But that I am what you pass through when you remember That there is a space [...]
Welcome to a darkened home Where snakes dominate the trees, And happy birds fly with a heart fearful of returning home, Where children are dogs at night. Welcome to a darkened home, Where sword and pistol daily speak in unison Nurturing the land with red wine, A place the sun refuses breeze to put [...]
Most people knew you as a great writer, But you were also a great negotiator. Never went back on your words, Strong-headed, but kind-hearted. “Egwu a m na-agu, o naghi e mee exist o” Was your theme song whenever we talked It always cracked me up. That song will be missed. You would [...]
