Opinionated Poem by Ikechukwu Ogbuike

Freedom is such a clean and rare air
It feels somewhat improper breathing it only with the nose
So we open up our eyes, our ears, and our mouth
Sometimes we go naked to take it in because in this particular chow there could never be an overdose.
There is a deliberate frugality in history
Depending on who was telling it…?
Which could not be said of poetry
We say it the way we feelingly see it
Even knowing that we may be chewed to pieces by the critics
Recognizing too that we are not all seeing
We are encouraged all the more to take to the roof top
So the wind could do some gardening of the words for us
Knowing that it is in these very expressions
That other seekers feed on to continue to give this world an essential dose of mortification
We do not just represent the truth
We are a platform of sight for the fool
This spring of life never dries up even when we are not in the mood
Explains why those who are hell bent in chasing yesterday still think being opinionated is crude
So let us apologize in advance to the living dead
That the lines and the ink will continue to drip
Of sweat mixed with bloody dread
And those un-nameable things that bellicose society frowns on
When we take the role of the rooster to announce the time
It will be in verses and anecdotes that is universal in its clime
Awakening the senses that are deeply asleep
To another duty that beckons, another season of reality.
We do not have a color and we certainly belong to no race
Their mode of religious worship
Does not have any accommodation to sail in our type of ship….
Still we share the universality as all who have the privilege of being
How can we then not talk or why should we frown at being labeled opinionated
Especially when we talk about what we are seeing
Slavery
In some circles does not seem real
When they talk of Africa
Some are wondering if it’s not only in the mind of those who call themselves Rasta
What of Osama Bin Laden?
A wind that was sown by so called civilized society
That now returns as a nightmarish whirlwind
We see the cold war
Which has never benefitted anyone especially the poor…
We see unemployment
A helmet worn between the ridges of our brows which do not come from self fulfillment
We do not want to talk about love
Which seems to be about the most wasted word
Yes, there is no need to feel elated
We are just opinionated
And the sad realization
That it is also a heaviness that never disappears until we fade away into oblivion
But still, we are never really gone
Not when our opinion continues to live on….