A PATH THAT WINDS IN TO THE CLOUDS

Oko, labe igi oronbo
A path that winds into the clouds
In loving memory of broken cisterns that squirt.
The very moan of trees
Rises to ninth heaven in praise,
Of the cat that died
Dousing the rampaging fire running in your tap

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

NECTAR

Nectar, I'll be your bee.
Humming all over you on a knee
Let the flower open up, deep
Till you let me suckle with glee

I'M HOLDING UP FOR LOVE

Love, where's your fire?
I've been sat here smoking away
With thorns, fronds and tulips
Making signals, for my need is dire
Still, there's no sign of a flame

Imposters have walked this way
Dripping with offerings, irresistible
Should I hold out for you?
That inferno you talked about,
When does the panorama light up?

That inferno that burns to the bones,
Come wrought me thorough
Rough edges to gloss, mend my tears
Throw me a lifeline, breathe in me
I'll hold my heart up to you

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.

GOODBYE TO WHOM I WAS

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".

THROUGH MY EYES

All my eggs are cast in one
The other baskets have shells
Rotten eggs don't sink in a basin

My heart flows like clear water
The honesty now reeks as lies
Its burst cistern will tumble with rage

"Do as I say, I'll do as I will
Bottle up my rampage, it's not for sale
See the world only through my eyes."

My eyes have turned to shells
The yolk tumbles from rage
And I'm blind, for your eyes are shut

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

BETWEEN A TEAR

Here I'm sat on a pot, crossroads
Between a dream and a fantasy
Time stokes the boiling pot, and I
Am caught between a tear and an orgasm

Go-To Girl

My go-to girl let's me slip in anytime
She lets me rock her, morn till dusk
leathery pair of black loafers

I WASN'T HE WHO CHOPPED THE TREE

I wasn’t he who chopped the tree,

Amadioha.

Why have thou cursed me?

The Ogene bounces off the sides of the mounts,

Horns and flutes purr at the heart of still waters...

Why am I in the way of a burst cistern?

Waves disturbs the calm of my dreams;

Of trickles come from the cistern’s cracks.

Why am I the cursed of them all?

Off they run to Nkwobi’s warm bossom,

Salted. The alligator pepper well done!

But upon shards of glass my heart is thrust

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!

Let's Live Together

Oh, Nigeria. Yours' a feared history -
Pandora's box - bleak, cold, dour...
Sour grapes' past; fruits of a new story.

ABUJA (11)

Dear Abuja, aren't you in panic like Zaria, Awka?
I bring you saltwater shake, warm
For while men slept, #Ebola flew by night

*Poem was inspired by the recent 'salt water bath' rave which left Nigeria stricken and confused on the cure and prevention of the deadly Ebola virus

ABUJA (10)

Abuja, thy wetness amazes me...
See how Father Sky slips into you with ease?
Not a whimper of winds, lightening or thunder.

ABUJA (9)

Abuja is wet again
My bed is never spared
Whenever her demons are here again.

THE OVERCAST

The overcast be reddened rooftops
Partial windbreaks
Walls of driedout generations of alga
The dominant color is abandoned gray
Years of colonization wins over every other
Blue, brown, white, even black
The heart of men be won over
That color of corruption be strong
The land, taken to ruins as such
Plenty be naught, fat now thin
Yet abandoned shelled out walls remains
And a few bloated pockets
Dotting the landscape that is Monrovia.

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