
Poem: “Not My Business” by Niyi Osundare
They picked Akanni up one morning Beat him soft like clay And stuffed him down the belly Of a waiting jeep.
They picked Akanni up one morning Beat him soft like clay And stuffed him down the belly Of a waiting jeep.
O elephant, huge as a hill, even in a crouching posture. O elephant, enfolded by honour, demon, flapping fans of war.
What time of night it is I do not know Except that like some fish Doped out of the deep I have bobbed up bellywise
I have not come this far only to sit by the roadside and break into tears I could have wept at home without a journey of several thorns
Today I did my share In building the nation. I drove a Permanent Secretary To an important urgent function In fact to a luncheon at the Vic.
I sought him in London: At Heathrow the Indian, Flips the passport pages, Scrutinizes the dated stamps, Prods me with tingling questions,
It is the first year, and things are going smoothly. Some people are jealous of their relationship, while others admire it.
The fridge is warm, the stove is cold Hunger in the house is strong and bold You come and go, you go and come
“NEPA” depicts a society where the provision of stable and uninterrupted electricity is considered too well for an undeserving citizenry.
“The Panic of Growing Older” by Lenrie Peters is a poem about the growing anxieties of man as he undergoes different phases in his life.
The panic of growing older spreads fluttering wings from year to year
There is always something formal Bout the barrel of a gun With its one-eyed coldness Which dares you to talk
Nightfall comes like a dreaded disease seeping through the pores of a healthy body and ravaging it beyond repair.
The figures of speech in “Stanley Meets Mutesa” are simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification, synecdoche, parallelism, onomatopoeia, repetition, antithesis, and symbolism.
“Inu Rere” extols the virtue of good-naturedness or good conscience and draws attention to its benefits. The poem is quite conversational.
themes in “The Leader and the Led” include the themes of followership, oppression, greediness, and male dominance.
“News” is an assessment of the several coup d’etats and attempted coups that became rife in most African countries in the first decade of their independence.
‘My dear brother it’s my sad duty to announce the death of our beloved mother Which occurred last Sunday after a short illness.’
Yesterday there was another attempted coup. People are still running blind targeting the latest scapeleaders
a squirrel crosses my way while on a trip then luck is mine but when it’s a cheetah or wild cat that crosses there I turn and go back.
Dzogbese Lisa has treated me thus It has led me among the sharps of the forest Returning is not possible
At home the sea is in the town, Running in and out of the cooking places, Collecting the firewood from the hearths
Sweating between his fingers, the agricultural man sweating in his thorax the musician sweating in his lungs the miner
Coming and going these several seasons, Do stay out on the baobab tree, Follow where you please your kindred spirits
In one of the three pots the three pots to which on certain evenings the happy souls return the serene breath of the ancestors,
If we tell, gently, gently All that we shall one day have to tell, Who then will hear our voices without laughter,
We have come home From the bloodless war With sunken hearts Our boots full of pride – From the true massacre of the soul
I shall sleep in white calico;
War has come upon the sons of men
And I shall sleep in calico;
Let the boys go forward,
Kpli and his people should go forward;
Let the white man’s guns boom,
I am Adeola Adeoti, an eclectic poet and author of a collection of poems, canticles of a happy people, which has been receiving rave reviews in journals across the world.
Dinner tonight comes with gun wounds. Our desert tongues lick the vegetable
blood—the pepper strong enough to push scorpions up our heads.
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