The Date

 

 

 

 

Even when they had sewn up the deed,
the discarded hand-gloves of the surgeons
still lie about in testament.

Even the disquieting sounds
of the Executioner's iron boots
shall in time re-echo
the other side of forced silences.

Even their gate of power,
as pig-headed as a stubborn anus,
cannot eternally hold back flatulence.

And we wait, patiently, upon
the conscience of time,
the superintendent of all truths,
to pronounce judgement
on the plunderers of our heritage

 

Unsympathetic Tenant

 

He taunts me

First with a twitch

Then a subtle tug

At what I think

Are my intestines

And from within he rumbles

Convulsing in laughter

Jeering, mocking ...

Hurting my pride

 

I squeeze my face

Casting embarrassed glances

Like Judas at the last supper

Again, my tormentor racks

I grind my teeth

Like a goat on a stake

'Men don't cry'

I tell myself

'Men don't cry'

And a tear drops

 

This my tormentor-

Unsympathetic bully

Blurs the sight

And makes the ear hear

Sounds so sadly strange

He mocks the nostrils

Tickling them with the aroma

Of imaginary delicacy

And causes a pang-

Pain in the abdomen

 

I cringe

And he laughs

Hunger laughs

Weirdly, at me

My feeble bravado

My vulnerable humanity

He laughs at me- 'LANDLORD"

 

 

A Cripple To A Snake

 

Pretty shining snake

Down the garden lake

 

You look like a rope

Wriggling down the slope

 

As you crawl and glide

To your hole to hide

 

Stop awhile I pray

Muse at me today

 

And hang your head to sway

The drunken-master way

 

But, by God! do not strike

For we are both alike

 

Condemned by crippled fate

To this our limbless state

 

Little Part Of Me

 

 

On this threshold of aborted dreams,

I sing this dirge.

The splattering syllables

Of a constricted heart.

 

The rhythm is soulful

And the lines without rhymes

As I move behind this procession

To a fraction of my burial.

 

This little part of me,

Being laid in an infant grave

Amidst solemn whimpering,

I clothe in this sacrifice of words,

I rock with this glorious lullaby

To an early eternal sleep.

Good night!

 

 

Desolation

 

 

 

Here on this naked floor I lie

A lost lizard

Breathing fast in empty zest

I am sprawled on this cold floor

Of an apartment that's not mine

I lie with my shy dreams

Tall deflated dreams of achievement

Counting out on my stunted fingers

Dashed hopes, ambitions, projects

I own no name, no pride, no property

And at an age beyond thirty

No wife, no child, no laurel

Not a house to call my own

I have only this pen with expiring ink

To make frustrated comments

Like a disenchanted umpire

On a society that sure has left me behind

 

I am a monumental failure

A self righteous pervert

With a warped sense of justice

 

See them, the accused

The defendants, the condemned

In the court of my indignant conscience

Men and women who dared

Challenged destiny to a duel

Fought, ruthless and bloody

Scorned justice and fairness

And came home with the trophy

 

But I envy their victory, 

Don't I ?

Labeling them immoral, prodigal...

Criminal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tasking Love

Ugonwanyi ...

Like the palm-kernel
Stalking the fringes of a pauperized living
Your love tasks the jaw-muscles
I chew and chew
And will not want to swallow
Lest I lose everything

Give me your love in trickles
Let it drop tom - tom - tom
Tomming to thaw
The years of unattended yearning
And soothe this suffocating lump
In the throat of my feeling

Like a hungry pauper
Let me hunt the woods of emotion
Desolate, seeking out that benevolent palm-tree
To hand out reluctant nuts
For me to crack and crack
And strive to reach your seed of love ...

Ugonwanyi

Unrequited Love

Odinsoeruaka
Destroy me with love
Suck away the juice of my life
Drain me of every fluid of emotion
And discard me, bedraggled
Like a fowl drenched
In an angry rain

Odinsoeruaka
Kill me; yes go ahead
And quench this fire
That flames, wrecking
The foundation of my being
Save me the trauma ... this agony

Visit me with a murderous love
But when I'm conveniently dead;
If the post-mortem says
'Unrequited passion'
Bury me, the carcass of a dead love
In the grave-yard of hope

Love Requiem

Here at this junction of desire and reality,
I libate my love.

Here where hurting and healing intermingle,
I confess this love.

Let the waking eyes
Of each breaking dawn
Behold my loss.

UNMASKED
Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Enekwe anwuola nu o

Iweee
Iweee
Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Iwe

Iwe na onuma iwe
Iwe na onuma iwe

Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Ha si Esiaba esola ya

Iweee
Iweee
Iwe ka anyi ji abia o
Iwe

Iwe na onuma iwe
Iwe na onuma iwe

Like an arusi that heeds no command
From mortals, you strike about
Capriciously;
Forwards and backwards
At those who only strive to know you-

Stranger- visitor!

We thought you brave
And neared no grave
Afraid
Bones might rise
To hurt us who seek your name

Shameless thief!

You steal into households
With hands cold as steel and
Steal
Laughter and love
And still remain insatiate

Onwu wu onye ohi o
Onwu wu onye ohi o
O vuru o gbalagha

Coward warrior

All those years you hid your face
Making war upon mortals
Returning
Again and again
To fell your adversaries

`Soldier-hero'!

Tell us, why the body-guard of vultures
And siren-owls hooting announcements?
Clothed in coffins, graves …
You scare those who come to know your name.

Just the other day
Our hero danced to your drumming.
Enekwe danced backwards,
Homewards across the threshold-
A dignified dance, that … a dance of dignity

And yesterday,
Yes yesterday
Esiaba of the hot blood
Again fell to your wiles
Abandoning his word grenades

But today
In the frenzy of this funeral
We tear off masks
And without fear glimpse
The face of the spirit behind this mask

And we ask him
Gbo nwunoko, are you not one with us?
We now know your name.

The wind has blown and now
We have seen the rump of the fowl

Masquerade!
Now your mask is removed,
And your hand-shake no more as cold,
What new MOU shall we sign?

(Chidozie Chukwubuike, dozieobowu@yahoo.com , 08063591311)