The Good Effect of War: Ohikhuare Isuku

No sane human would long for war. Its devastating effects far outweigh any meaningful achievement we can derive from it. But more often in time past, war has served as bedrocks for ravishing developments. It has driven serious innovations and established strong economic growth spread across time and space. The world wars brought their achievements, as well as many wars before them. So also the cold war.

The cold war was on one hand, between the United States, Europe, and the Western Bloc of Germany and on the other hand the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc of Germany. It wasn't a direct fight, and it lasted from 1947 to 1991 when the Berlin wall collapsed. This cold war in some ways laid foundation for man's first landing on the moon. 

On April 12th, 1961, Soviet's cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when he orbited the earth in 89 minutes, He was aboard his space capsule, Vostok 1. To America, this advancement by the Soviet Union was a source of huge concern. Not only did it stab America's pride that its greatest rival had reached space first, it was worrisome then that the Soviet Union would soon begin to shift nuclear weapons into space. America was so enraged that President J.F. Kennedy banned Yuri Gagarin from visiting America after he became an instant celebrity following his return from space. 

In 1962, JFK founded NASA with a major aspiration to put man in space before the end of that decade. It was a greater challenge which would surpass the Soviet's achievement of putting the first man in space, and thereby bringing pride back to the United States in the face of the cold war. So in the unfolding years, America dedicated so much investment - human and capital - towards  achieving this aim. It worked towards the end of that decade.

On 20th July, 1969, Apollo 11 - The Eagle -  landed the first men on the moon surface. Neil Armstrong - the three-man crew commandant - was the first to land, declaring famously, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Nineteen minutes later, Lunar Module Pilot,  Buzz Aldrin stepped his foot on the moon becoming the second man in that regard. The third crew member, Micheal Collins, who was the Command Module Pilot, didn't land on the moon surface, rather he was hovering around the moon atmosphere. 

Through this, a giant leap was made by mankind, and it was because of the cold war. 

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Vexing Sky: A Poem by Miracle Folorunso

Humans, hear the silver stripes
roaming to and fro,
running round and loud,
touching earth’s barren lips!
Humans, hear our cry!

We take earth walkers
indoors to stay by fire side
telling tales, dreaming dreams;
we are the harvest that fill their banks

We are sweet
and we are insipid,
we give taste to fading meadows
and we are the workaday cottage,
we are the vexing rain

Both the moon and the sun
join us to whip humans
and as we strike
we join them in tears;
we burst out
letting go our tears

We are countless tears
which rip the road apart;
our tears swallow the
properties of many
yet humans ignore our cries

And what do humans do?
They strike us down with buckets
washing their dirt with our innocence
so that we cry the more

© Miracle Folorunso

[Edited by Chidinma Ahika]

About the Writer

Miracle Folorunso is a chip off the sun shining radiantly in the morning of her time. She is an S. S. 1 scholar of Eagles Educational Centre, Uselu Benin City. "Vexing Sky" is her first published work and she is saying a big thank you to her sister; Victoria, big brother, and teachers Mr. Ahika and Mr. Ibe who helped her discover her talent at the dawn of her years. At the present time, she is working on an anthology that centres on the ecology that keeps us alive.

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River Niger: Poem by Gift Miracle Ogbole

Beloved River Niger,
colourless and pure,
as wide as the desert sand,
when the wind blows,
you fold into waves like ploughed ridges

When the sun
paints your wet bosom
with his golden straws
you are as pretty
as a blind man's sight

True, the stars
are watching, lending
their lights while your limbs sleep walk
through and through the silent nights

You give life too
to mammals, to reptiles,
to the first of times,
to the time we see
and to the times that will be

© Ogbole Miracle Gift

[As edited by Chidinma Ahika]

About the Writer

Ogbole Miracle is a young steward of the pen. She is currently a J.S.S 2 student of Eagles Educational Centre, Uselu, Benin City. She is a poet and playwright. And she is working on the manuscript of her play titled "Making Hay."

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I Think I'm a Ghost: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

I think I am a ghost;
my disposition, the whole of my being
churns up this claim
like an earth troubled by a plow,

For alone in the void,
attended by birds’ chirps and plants’ rustlings,
I mine greater warmth in my company
than in a gathering of laughter,
of warmth and brotherhood.

Discordant sounds wear me out
like an eroded earth;
even the ticking of my footsteps
turns rapture from my holding.

And when injustice thrusts out
its hideous fist like a volcano,
It’s a heavy pang I feel on my chest
like a blacksmith’s blow,
because like ghosts,
I idealize a utopian world.

Thus, if this claim
of me being a ghost
survives truth’s stringent test,
then there are more ghosts on our streets
who are oblivious of their state.

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