. COMMUTER’S CALL
(For Justine)
I sat three days by the banks of life
...
. GABADA FOR CHRISTIANSBORG
Walking the plank of self ridicule.
...
WHITEMAIL
Before we came to their dreams,
Hatched in the Cauldrons of Hate,
We did not know
...
19
NEW YORK...NEW YORK
And i stood agape in your Citadels
as stormy waves swept avalanches past me.
...
. REVOLUTION
(For Kosi Ameyibor & Lee Dargbey)
I do not preach Revolution.
...
I was born and bred by very strict parents who wanted me to succeed in whatever I chose to do in life.My education was entirely at Roman Catholic Schools and I am one of the proud products of that strict system. I studied Arts and languages in the University.But i also had a curious liking for International Relations. Later, I spent sometime meddling in Journalism and Politics but eventually settled down to more mundane things like working for a living.I am passionately Nationalistic and have spent years serving my country in various insignificant but historically important capacities. I have a happy family to whom i look to for comfort in this desolate landscape. Since the age of twelve, I have never stopped writing. I picked up a few awards in poetry, Drama and Prose. My main inspirations have been Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, Keats, The Romantics, Wole Soyinka, Dennis Brutus, Nyidevu Awoonor and Ama Atta Aidoo. I am an ardent student of Greek and Latin Literature counting in importance Homer, Ovid, Thucidides, Aescylus and others you may remember. I have read also Oriental and Nordic works as well as Old English works. I am still writing and reading though.)
Illusion
16
ILLUSION
We heard them shouting loudly,
They heard us lamenting over plight.
They told us there was a Saviour coming
And our heart leapt with gladness
But Time, its sweet memories have left unfulfilled.
And Tyrants have usurped our hearts and voices.
In times of grief and oppression
Our Fathers chanted wild the name of Freedom
And knocked loudly on Liberty’s temple.
Mother Nature listened and sent her sons.
But they cried: Not Ghandi Not Malcolm X, not Nkrumah, Not Luther King.
There was a Peacemaker called Kennedy.
They heard he loved the Blackman
And laid him to eternal submission.
Peace is weeping in her Temple
Vainly imploring her multitude sons
cease the fray.
But they all feigned deaf.
Wallowing in the gore
Beneath the Towers of Silence.