by KREATIVE DIADEM | Dec 22, 2016 | POEMS
My Nigerien Friend and his Stubborn Smile
So because you're not glued by blood
mere haemo-bond,
you shrug at the news at 8.
You say there are no worried wrinkles
on the forehead of the cute newscaster
who brings bloody news
from Potiksum, only in a jiffy;
about dying babies in overcrowded IDP camps.
But would you blame her,
Her tear gland is a dry well.
The corporate duress screams
"Shed no tears, show no emotion!"
They say Oprah Winfrey
divorced her own fetters on the desk
of the same corporate duress.
But I say “shed no tears
to know the pains of these orphans-
tenants under dirty bridges.
You must first enter the parlour of their grief,
and burn in the kitchen of their memories.
You'd see, the only fire there
is that of loved ones
burning with bombs.”
Don't be fooled
by their clipped mouths,
for when anguish is excessive,
It castrates your tongue.
We're one big family
separated only by our indifference.
I once stumbled on a new relative:
A Nigerien lass, tugged at me
Her hair curly and shampooed
by extreme sunlight,
her bony finger tore my new Designer shirt;
at first, I was enraged,
but then, that ugly hole led to a map
that led me to a Kingdom of families.
A raconteur told me
“no child is fatherless.
Are there not too many men
to go round?
But love is enough
to check against the kerfuffle in Chibok,
and the searing screams in broken homes.”
…
“You do not mend dying homes with bricks
but another bit of love.”
He said.
Home is not only where you go at nights;
it is also the stubborn smile
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Agbaakin O. Jeremiah, an aspiring poet and campus Editor reads law in University of Ibadan.
His works have graced several anthologies including Briggite Poirson Anthology and are forthcoming onThe Niyi Osundare @70 Anthology, Irawo Anthology, etc.
His other publications feature (and forthcoming) on Liquid Imagination, Antarctica Journal, Wagon Magazine, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Kalahari Review, Praxis Magazine, African Writer, Sub-Saharan Magazine, Pulse Nigeria and elsewhere.
He was a shortlisted for 2016 Dwarts Poetry Prize. He also won the maiden edition of Ogidigbo Poetry Contest, University of Ibadan; and was also a six-time finalist of 2016 Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest.
by KREATIVE DIADEM | Jun 19, 2016 | POEMS
METAMORPHOSIS
Breathing in, breathing out
Time stands still for a bit.
Calmly, it resumes in a minute.
Something has changed; a lot in fact.
A new identity has emerged.
The human has grown.
Ideas sprouting like beads,
Knowledge, that on which he feeds.
Metamorphosis
Slowly, the change occurs.
Life happens and the boy,
A boy he no longer is.
The boy becomes a man.
Time moves rapidly.
Life happens and the girl,
A girl she no longer is,
She becomes a woman.
Breathing in, breathing out.
The last breath heralds the end.
Metamorphosis occurs;
The change is made permanent.
Transcendence completed.
The human changes no longer,
Metamorphosis ends.
‘Bukola Ibirogba is a student of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan. She draws inspiration for her poetry from her love for God and everyday issues.
by KREATIVE DIADEM | Jul 17, 2015 | POEMS
Every morning he would cry
His only urge now is to die
Even with a thousand wings he couldn’t fly
He wishes happiness is a thing he can buy
He watches as his whole life crashes
His achievements in the past burnt to ashes
His hope for a better future dashes
Against the rock his redemption smashes
He walks around but he’s dead inside
His life has become a pain on his side
He’s caught and lost in life’s strong tide
He wishes he could find a cave forever to hide
Time after time he speaks in his mind
Time continues to wind
If only he can rewind
And change events from behind
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Durodola Folarin Quadri. Born on the first of January 1991. I attended the university of Ibadan as a student of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering. Editor-in-Chief of the departmental press organisation. I like books and one of the best I ever read was Living, Loving and Learning by Professor Felice Leonardo Buscaglia. I enjoy sports and computer games. Poetry gives me succour when I write about how I feel. Most times I write based on real situations because they inspire me more than imagination. I’m quiet and sometimes I’m being labelled as shy, while some simply say I’m an introvert.
by KREATIVE DIADEM | Jun 15, 2015 | POEMS
“Go Soul the body’s guest
Upon a thankless arrant
Fear not to touch the best
The truth shall be thy warrant
Go, since I needs must die
And give the world the lie.”
Sir Walter Raleigh- Soul’s Errand.
TELL DARKEN WEST
Say to the West they stink
And smears of filth
Tell, Convention fades like blink
Tell Bravery ’tis but myth.
Warn War of holocaust
Chide Strategy ’tis mere prank
Tell Peace it lies nought
When its rod faileth to spank.
Cry to Light it’s thin
And laxeth in its shine
Tell, Democracy can’t win
Unless with Villainy dine.
Tell Darken West!
Tell Psychopath He commends
And makes his fawn
Tell Awe of unsungness it mends
Tell Sun to trail when Flattery’s done.
Say to Faiths they gleam
On their sacred way man leaves dirty spoor
Say to the proud stream
It flows, oe’rflows and banes the moor.
Tell Courage it prateth
And flees when it’s the meanest
Rebuke Fate it wasteth
Tell strength it’s not the strongest.
Tell fatigue it’s mean
When this Truth thou harbinger
Tell, resilience is near
Near, near and nearer
As it drifts towards matyrs’ isle
Tell nudists there’s mantle.
When thou hast uttered thy foretellings
And lay bare their loomy goriness
Fear not their yellings
Till you saunder Oneness
Whence lieth their bestness
Exhume conscience from ashes of shyness!
Thou Soul, body’s guest
Fear not but torch Darken West!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Agbaakin Oluwatoyosi Jeremiah is a law undergraduate of the Premier University, University of Ibadan. Born on the 9th of April, 1994 in Ikire, Osun state, he is an active pressman in the university community where he heads the news unit in his hall press organization. During his secondary days, he won many essay competitions, performed poetry for state programs and participated in many literary activities.
He is not relenting as he keeps writing especially on his blog: muselord.wordpress.com. Apart from his keen love for legal studies, he has burning passion for writing fantasy novels, poems,and on philosophy. Battle Scar, a novel about the Biafran war was published to his credit on the top online forum in Nigeria, Nairaland in 2013 and it received a wide read.
I believe in fighting for integrity and justice at all cost as the noble laureate, Wole Soyinka rightly said “The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of
tyranny” and a legendary Judge once established that justice must not only be done but be manifestly and undoubtedly seen to be done.
by KREATIVE DIADEM | Jun 4, 2015 | POEMS
MORTAL BODY
Dead, they died
And then, we cried
Morrow we wake
But we see their fake
Mouth have I sealed
lord have I seen
Morrow I wake
But I see their fake
The one I know smiles
No talking, nor grinning, there in the tomb his body lies
But then to be save
We made for the grave
Grave – the home of the dead
Hear it to your inside
Live it O ye mastermind
A soul is it that you give
To the grave we put and we leave
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born on 19th Feb. 1996. I hail from Ikire the land of Dodo, Osun state. I attended Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, Ikire. Having graduated, I was admitted to Saint Augustine’s Commercial Grammar School where I was elected as the Social prefect boy of my set. I was then one of the competitors group, a group said to be the community of the intellectuals. Having succeeded in the secondary school, I opted to study Medicine in the great citadel of knowledge; The Lagos State University, Ojo which was successful but to a different course, Physics.
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