Tony Cemaluk Poems

Nkea na amamu ahu jijijiji,
Ikedo mu na nmazi uzo di
n'okpulu ugbo mmili anyim,
...

PROMISE not pounded yam when you can't
pound pounded yam; worst, under oath,
when you can, but compromise instead to pound cocoyam.
...

She fought a war without war weaponry,
No gun, no sword, no army at her gate.

Planting season,1974.
...

She marched, rather than wandered.
She marched in the wilderness of Widowhood
without windows of hope, of help.
...

Not total domination — Just total devotion.
They gave me six slots, I gave them my soul.

Mama said: Don't scatter. So I wrote until
...

Not coin in pocket — but coin in tongue.

Cemaluk did not mint gold, he minted meaning.
They said define it — He lived it.
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She did not hire hands,
She became the hands.

Carton upon carton,
...

1974,
They came to check booty to loot,
Waiting for lands,
Waiting for titles,
...

Mother should live and not leave.
Mine carried carton to Heaven-Crown.

Mother did not die, she passed —
...

Mother did not die, she passed —
like carton passing from head to hand of angels.

Carton upon carton,
...