Showing posts with label African Poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African Poems. Show all posts

Saturday, 16 February 2019

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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Friday, 25 January 2019

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.

Read More »

Saturday, 19 May 2018

The Truest Happiness: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku.


















If you see a child on the terrace,
or rolling upon the dry earth - 
grains of sand stuck on his bare skin - 
do not stop his play
because you feel he's done enough,

He's having the best time of his life!

Do allow him dream;
allow him purchase planes and ships
with bundles of dry leaves
he flaunts as his naira and dollar banknotes;
let him talk about
building several castles on the Atlantic 
or in space or mars.

For it is during childhood
when one plays without a burden at heart,
or dreams without knowing
the cost of achieving dreams,
that one has the truest happiness. 
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Wednesday, 1 November 2017

The Truth: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku



Your eyes are not just mere eyes,
They are tiny sparks of love
Which burn deep to engrave
Your image in my heart.

Your hands are not just hands,
They have this ecstatic sensation,
Which vibrates my whole being
And keep me still in your arms.

Your lips are not all they seem to be;
They must be stalk of cotton wool,
Dipped in spirit,
Because of their softness,
Because of this chillness I feel,
When you pressed them against mine.





Read More »

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Failure: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

How frequently failure
had nestled in my loft,
breathing dust which
suffocates my eyes.

How its fiery-darting flames
dance against the secret walls
of my hearts, leading me
gently into the vale of anguish,
but do I dare refrain from dreaming?

I fail more than I succeed,
but these failures
are concealed inward
as huge waste of depression.

They burn the heart,
they consume the soul,
suck off the joy which moists
our countenances,
but still, we forswear not
the cradle of our dreams.

I'll fail again;
I'll fail a million times
before my evening comes,
because for just a success,
there have to be many failures:
many attempts at dreaming.
Read More »

Monday, 17 April 2017

My Love, Africa: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku


Africa, throughout this night, I'll be with you;
We will run around the terrace
With love-clad eyes, debilitated hands,
Feet - weak like the shrubs frustrated
By arid harmattan winds.

We'll fall on each other gently
Like soft linen on a well-dressed bed;
Our lips touching, chatting in love language.

Africa, throughout this night, we'll blaze our fear-shivered union
With the flame of affection;
We'll trade our fear in the nightly darkness
And allow the wind to take it away.   


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Climax of a Patriot: Poem by Chidinma Ahika


Its so cold in here,
Nothing seems to matter,
Osundare's Not-My-Business
Sounds to me.

Every tenets so precious
Are webbed by the nets of the moment.
Every acts come to go their ways,
Each issues shoved above the brows.

The truth so bitter than
It ever tasted,
Vanities dribble my tiring thoughts,
Nothing seems to matter;
Fallen and broken,

The climax of a patriot.
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Longevity: Poem by Bright Afeikhe

LONGEVITY

Blessed with ages
The days of trees            
Long time keeper
Honey bees hiver

Sharp and distant through many moons
Sufficience through loyal gradient roots
Suck and absorb two elements, double tapping
Collect from many years that you may live long

Atavistic, landmark, non succumbing
To the wind, to the scorching sun circle
Erosionary waters, have left markings
Yet you nobly persist, over scores of
Longevity, and length of days

Work of your hands, many have eaten
Seeds of your plants, travelled abroad
Formed colonies of troops, just like you

Suddenly your strength fails, by razor
Like Samson, your torso goes down
But, here your progeny does not end
Because a stump stands

Left a stubborn you
Read More »

Sunday, 9 April 2017

Senator Badmus: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku


The upper house appears boisterous:
Chairs chiming as restless buttocks bully them.
The air is held uneasy; nasty noise:
Whistling whirling like sea storm.

All are seated; eyes soaked in fun,
Mouths moving; either chewing
Or congesting the already
Frustrated air with hooeys. 

But one senator Badmus
Has his head down on the smooth table.
Perhaps dreaming of the next jeep
He must add to his convoy.

'Honourable senators, please we need silence.'
Belled the clerk over the maze,
'Senator Bemin has a motion to raise.'
The noise soon subsides, seeing senator Bemin
Rising like a demon from the sea:
anger-soiled, hands and legs trembling, terrified,
Subdued under grave provocation.

'That man!' pointing to the sleeping senator,
'Is not worthy to be called senator of the federal republic.'
He eats up his own indignation
And regurgitates it;
now smeared with utter discontent.

'He's from my state. He has failed!' He continues,
Unrepentant, teeth clenched like a woman in labour.
'He was elected to represent his district,
But he sleeps every day. He should be suspended!'
He sits, satisfaction-snowed.

Senator Lowe springs up,
With face smile-sheathed
As soon as the Senate Governor allows him.
'With respect, Senate Governor,
Let me second the motion
.'

He romances his jaws with his left palm,
Pushing his right fist forward like a spear.
'In addition to what my honourable colleague
has said, Badmus disturbs
us with his scaring snore
.'
He let out a grin. Everybody joins.
'Just look at him snoring.
He has made here his bedroom.
I'm tempted to say he needs rest.
Let him go home and rest
.'

'They're right!' the Upper House
Rumbles amid titters
As Lowe retires to his seat.
Now the Governor balances
His eye glasses on his age-creased face
As if he has been oblivious
Of the matter on ground;
But he can't deny moistening
His old face with smile all along.

'Before any action can be taken,
We must look into the matter properly
.'
He glues his gaze on poor Badmus,
Snoring still; silenced by slumber.
'Wake him up if he
Has anything to say about this
.'

Someone wakes Badmus who yawns peevishly.
He raises his head, agitated, shame-subdued.
'Senator Badmus.' Governor calls, 'What have you
To say about the raised motion?
'

Badmus tinkles his lower jaw, in deep oblivion.
'I support the last speaker.'
He said at last as the House roars in laughter.
'Badmus…' Governor stutters, 'will you support
The motion for your exit from the house?




Read More »

Saturday, 18 March 2017

Celestial Perfection: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku


If you look at the earth
and the whole possessions
she prides on her brows -
the sun, the stars, the moon,
the evergreen plains, valleys
and the verdant hills rising
unto the mercuric clouds -
you would notice that in totality,
they reflect how beauteous you are.

The sun captures your brightness;
the moon, your soothing calmness;
the stars are the flickers of light
you pile on your crown...

Then,
the evergreen plains,
the awesome valleys
and the bluish sky and oceans
speak of the freshness
which kisses your skin,
while the high-rising hills
model your welcoming pride.

Thus, because through your reflections,
through your awesome attributes,
the earth came to be,
you are not of earthly beauty,
but of celestial perfection.



Read More »

Thursday, 16 March 2017

A Little Child Shall Lead Them: Poem by Bright Afeikhe


Warm as the southern hemisphere;
The warmth of a mother to a baby,
The voice of my education spoke:
Is it a logical sequence -  that one
May suspend the biological need
For the relative convenience of another,
Albeit even from one's own progeny?

My superlative mind could not fathom
Because here she stooped, bent and broken,
hidden in the world and forgotten,
Yet clueless of derision,so long she had the
Baby.

What is love? what's the scientific algorithm?
'Any quantumical properties?' Came the voice of
My education. Can you statistically measure it?

My baffled stance took on motion;
The mother was moving and I followed
Her face I could see was broken
And her lips
seemed torn in different pieces by life.

Just then she kissed her baby.
Amidst my awe and shock came
My education's voice; it came asking
What's the ecological arrangement?
Symbiosis or commercialism?
Could it be dwarnic instinct?
Or some superfluous theory yet
Uncovered.

In my meditative musings
I did not notice when she turned the
Corner away from my inquisitive eyes

The Author - Bright Afeikhe - is a prolific  writer/poet and a dedicated guess-blogger at English Writing House. He holds BSc (Political and Public Administration) degree of the prestigious University of Benin in 2013.



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Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Dear Uloma: Poem by Chidinma Ahika

The Poet: Chidinma Ahika
                                                       


Let me be the magic,
That tinder startling from your alluring eyes

Let me be the lullaby
That melts the fears you foster

Let me be the dawn
That withers your inner nightmares

Let me be the tick-tock
That freezes in constancy for our paradise

Let me be the moisture
That gives you the heat you desire

Let me be the hinges
That dangle you to and fro

Let me be the mountain
That shields the harsh clemency

Let me be the hawk
Against the reptilian evenings

Let me be the Superman
In your steamy story

Let me pillow the sadness
That fractures your dainty outline

Let me curve the trajectory
That ends your thorny quandary

Let my letters
Sweeten your world as congregation of colours
My dear Uloma
Read More »

Tuesday, 14 March 2017

Why I Love You: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

I do not love you
because I long to cast
a life-long smile
upon your flashy cheeks,

or caress your darling sheen
while your awesome lips
cave into mine
like two rainbows embracing,

rather do I adore you
because of your comeliness;
for when the dry comes,
the verdant field loses
Its greenness and beauty
to the acrid dust


I love you because I must;
because like my breath,
without your tender touch
like the dew of dawn, 
or your mellifluous whispering,
or your ageless kisses,
I would be lifeless –
long gone into the abyss.

Read More »

Thursday, 9 March 2017

Shades of Love: Poem by Chidinma Ahika






Pretty pretty sprouts not the nitty-gritty,
Much burnt in infatuation flame,
Darkness falls and glisten wings,
After time shall tell today's in shrewd shame.

The curtain draws close,
When spectacles play sweetest,
A foe of love the heart does pose,
Bleeding in hemorrhage, breathing listless.

If only her gaze will scale before the now,
If only truth will defend my Vows,
Love pangs will set reality down.

At times love seems like a seed sown,
When tendered right its stems  grow,
When gardened wrong roots folds to sleep,
With harvest to nothing reap.

Other times love comes as a terrible liar;

It tells you light is getting nearer,
When night is blazing fairer.
It says the sun will sound later,
When dusk is blowing better,
Love can come as a terrible liar.



Read More »

Friday, 24 February 2017

We Have Become Ghosts: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

We died yesterday,
Even before our conception,
Even before our consciousness
Took flight to maturity

In our womb,
Our forebears stabbed us
And spilled our blood
To wet their paths

Then, they stuffed us
Like cotton wool
Into one wooden casket,
And dug for us a shallow grave


But now, we have become ghosts
With fiery eyes and breaths like dragons;
Our deafening cries shall
Rent the air from dusk to dawn;
We shall hurt these climes
Until our ghosts sublime.
Read More »

The Another Wind: Poem by Chidinma Ahika


What are those winds
That run like blessed fire
But with potency dazzling cold?
What are those winds
That roll rushing bold
Yet so weak and low?

The mouth-makers that
Polish our eyes with fresh banal;
The new champions that
Weary our longing with faded stews,
And come twirling around
Our eyes with old clothes sewn new,
They are the another winds.

The tales they erect,
We've learned so long a time to suspect,
But the new sweetness of this set,
Holds our hopes against neglect,
For their tongues are devices
That beat the cadavers of all we expect,
To fullness, to form, to flesh.


© Chidinma Ahika.
Read More »

Friday, 17 February 2017

Benevolence: Poem by Chidinma Ahika


The Author: Chidinma Ahika (2017)
The breath of me breaks
the secret of my brackish being;
Ghetto spoils deny my form of sumptuous fledge,
Whilst my soul melts in platter of sorrows:
Why does the world maroon my tattered whole?
Pray dawn, come spur my dark clime.

Bitterness of this sphere holds strongly,
Against my sheen, deep in putrid,
That dogs in Lekki areas boast of diets
More ideal than my kingly meals.

Every man to his pocket;
Every eye to his plough;
None so benevolent to part his sum;
None so artful to tend my plight;
My beggarly self to providence love alone.


© Chidinma Ahika.
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Tuesday, 7 February 2017

The Smile is Tears in Disguise: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

Do you see this smile
Upon my face,
Blooming bright
Like a watered rose?

Do you observe from afar
The fire which burns in this smile;
How it spreads beyond
All reproach of darkness,
Marking the dark world
With numerous golden skylines?

Now, come closer to me,
Let our breaths resonate warmth,
Come nigh and then
Trace the wrinkles which embrace
The smile, remote from a distance,
And then feel with your prodding fingers,
The constant throbs which threaten,
To rip the smile apart.

Of a truth, no glow cuddles my smile,
Nor has the morning sun
Ever risen above it with its beauty.
The smile shields sadness
And locks it within like a prisoner.

And because of the push force
Of this red-hot sadness,
The thin wall of smile
Is continuously bombarded from within.


It is the fierce heat of this sadness,
Which fills the smile with wrinkles,
While its intensity and force
Give the smile a glow
Which makes it appear
As though it were blooming. 
Read More »

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Affections Lost: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

Come my beloved, come!
Don't move farther off, 
Your closeness strengthens my limbs.
Come to me, to my arms,
To crush the grey of my chest
With your tender bosom
Like the juicest pawpaw in the garden.
February has brought its  arid wind, 
And has placed fruits on every cashew tree.
Or, is this not February - 
The month of our love?
Oh, I doubt!
For at this time in the dim past,
We held on to each other, warming 
Ourselves in the sprawling meadows,
Smiling, our cheeks soft,
Our lips chatting in love language.

Or did our love fall?
Tell me! Do not let my ears shrink.
Save heavens, all things fall, 
Love inclusive, and what palls love.
So tell me, my tears, I'll hold,
Tell me why your face
Has become so costly,
Not even a million pearls can buy,
Tell me, why for many moonnights,
My aging hands longed
For your sheen, your soft skin,
But were left desolate.

Is it age that dispels you?
Speak at once!
Nobody's eavesdropping.
The earth is still
And the world's shut behind us.
Every being ages but God,
And for love,
A score soon becomes a decade. 

Remember those bright years,
Those days when we spoke
Not with our voices,
But ours hearts, our emotions.
Remember those years,
When the rains 
Left the fields green
For us to roll on,
Remember when our chuckles
Startled the little birds,
Whistling on swaying leaves,
On the straws of dancing grasses,
When the fading sun
Held its last smile to the world
While night ravaged from the east.

And remember my love,
When the night spread
Its black hue abroad,
Over our loft, over our love,
We became a whole,
Our warmth dissolving darkness,
Our closeness chasing away fear
Until the full moon 
Shone, brilliantly and alluringly
Over the terrace of our love -
Where we bathed in dry sands,
Churned ourselves upon the cool earth,
Our smiles, our light.

But those nights when the sky
Housed no moon, the world
Swallowed in its shadow,
We pressed against ourselves,
On my bedstead,
On our love's den,
Our warm embrace melting 
The night until the dawn crooners
Brought us hope of a forming dawn.

So move not away from me.
Drift not away from me
More than a foot length,
So I reach out to cuddle you,
Your lips glued to mine,
Our hearts speaking with waves
While our eyes interprete.
Do not mind age,
It's a ruse
Nature imposes to falter love.
But you by my side,
Though nature rules at last,
We shall struggle with it
Until our backs lay against
Our vaults, our eternal beds.

So come to me beloved, 
Come seek home in my arms,
My bedstead still bears
The sweet smell of your soothing tan.
Read More »

Rare Beauty: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

What kind of poetry
Can unmask the
Mystery behind 
Your rare beauty?

What design of words,
No matter how soothing,
Can paint how oval
Like almond fruit,
Your eyes are?
How stiff like frozen fish,
I feel when those charming eyes
Dazzle at me
As the butterfly flaps its wings?

The truth is,
No art work can fully
Depict the warmth and tenderness
Which embrace your hands
And how tempting
Your bare lips stare at me to kiss.
Read More »