SUNSHINE

My dreams are pregnant
Weighed upon frail shoulders
Thick as the gathering of storm
Behind which you're the sunshine

ONYEDIKA OZOEMENA

Goodnight Onyedika Ozoemena
Candle, flickered off by the howl of evil
Just before you lit a wildfire at harvest
Journey home lad, find rest

Tickle the sides of heaven on your way
Be sure to laugh, in scorn of devils
For, you now rub shoulders with angels
Journey home lad, find rest

Cause the realms to fart in angst
Harbinger sent on an errand
Finger them from your vantage point
Then journey home lad, to find rest

CHIBUZOR

Chibuzor,
gold dust of teary eyes
wrought from an iroko -
'oku - masquerade of
the shimmering night;
that swallowed an alligator.
'uzor, the flamboyance of youth;
where my eggs were cast,
and I told myself a lie.

A BROAD SMILE IN DECEIT

I can see what the darkness does
Say goodbye to who I was
For now, a heartless being roams
His heart eaten by a beast
A beast without a soul or girth
That one which went to and fro
With a broad smile in deceit
And said "he's a fool for love".

Abuja (12)

Abuja, of a flood's nightly welcome
Fires up fantasies and washes away sorrows
Though cries of men and of babies spring forth thence

The Wind In Her Wings

Le Eagle soared away at dawn
But we were not lorn
Father Sky was kind - we tarried much
Then she caught the wind in her wings
Same which I purred from my pipes
So I was breathless when she was gone
With kindred spirit in formation
Umunna in tow to new breeding fortes.

Plucked

They're getting plucked all around me;
Spinsters, ripe - soft to the side
Will there be fruits left when...
My rod grows long enough?

Udi

 Udi, cast upon dark combustibles
Is it true? That I'll revel in thy belly?
When the moro brings me nigh,
Altine visits again, be ready!

She, chic

There they go - infidels, rogues
Plucking towns shamelessly;
Minced meat, sooting grills in their wake
And what does the chic do?

She, chief-in-command, is...
Distraught, limp, then cools off.
Timbuktu, Boakye were neighbors
Merry and laughter in tow

But a litter of bleeding girls wail.
The rest are cracked, then armed -
Cannon fodder are sent with fear
Emissaries to chic, from a bloated war.

Where's His Dream Gone?

I have a brother
Gone away with the winds -
Jos, where he tickled the skies
And dwelled between warm jaws.

We - the house and I will loathe
And curse his luck, his fate
For with lofty dreams they yoked him
And ushered him like a sheep.

Don't they slay on mountains high,
Sheep for wanton sacrifice, worship?
His blood mingled with a multitude
Dreams, nightmares, fantasies.
As they merried between boulders.

Sadly, when his blood let go,
His identity went with it in the wind;
Didn't you see the whirlwind above the hills?
Stirred by the wrench from beneath?

A thousand rains are now lined,
Father sky will blot the trace
Then his blood will cry
From beneath the soil where his dream went.

A KISS IN YOUR SLEEP

My demons are here again
I'm cursed to watch you sleep
Depths of your slumber
Brings me wallow in stares
Thy long lithe frame
Wont for wrappers
Of my bossom's cusps of warmth
The calm of your face
Tells of the air of peace
As I crave a kiss in your sleep

ABUJA (6)

Abuja, I need a call to the heart; 

Touch me with thy whisper; 

Cringe my skin with thy touch

ABUJA (4)

Oh! How I love you, Abuja; 

But there you go, spreading yourself; 

Wide open to other men - hustlers

ABUJA (3)

I'm in love with Abuja;

Her love strikes me with lightning bolt;

She kills me with wont!

MARKETPLACE

There's a thriving marketplace
When insomnia comes to Owls, to Ravens
Aminu Kano, Adetokunbo Ademola, crescents of Ahmadu Bello

AREA

For area wey we dey, see enof crib for paddy
Ajebo wey hate us call am ghetto
Say na shacks and kpako so so full am
But na them papa no wan make e beta for us

When morning show tear rubber
Wey pale gas hustle and mama set for shade
Guys go come dey hail levels wey dry
E go even dey like say them hail visa for jand

Later, chikala go roll out from lungu
She go look for guy with End Of Discussion
With small knosh and beer for her belle
Na six rounds him go knack

Boys for area just sabi kposh
Them wey wise go play ball
Girls go only throway belle yakata
Bastards go come yanfu for area

When night come, light no go dey
Na chance for boys to go steal be that
Papa sef go still dey joint dey booze
With fear, na our Lord's prayer mama go hail

MY MALENESS

I look upon my maleness,
that little prick -
disenchanted from simple definition.
I detest the tale,
nor admire
its lack of depth -
The maleness
I dream of,
dominates.
Velvet valor aplenty,
loneliness cowed by fear -
The maleness of a man,
not of a boy.
One which ripens as the moon wane.

ABUJA (1)

Abuja's wet; 

But I'm sweating. 

While she just lay there, I plough.

POISONED CHALICE

Poisoned chalice, scion of the

Family tree. Barren, devoid of good.

Ukamaka and Ugonna ate of it

Camwood and oil palm sold aplenty

After bouts of swollen stomachs

Left a desolate lair of imbeciles

For the curse rings forth still

Harbinger hung at the front porch

BUARI

Comets don your crests - dragon’s vomit!
Fists of Herod, fists of Xerxes.
You are yesterday’s May twenty-ninth, just before cun personified
Solitude consumed at will until they became Lagos.
Cairo, but I insist Lagos
Octopuses rained on the cells and drought cremated the grains
Sphinx of your doom parched the leeways to our bellies
When necessity became your first concubine

Hate of your communion begets doom
Franchise and King makers score in your court
But love visits them - the frog prince and the lair
They pluck chaos from glue, the white elephant
When Eze goes to school