Two Patients: In the psychiatrist's office

"I cut myself", he said, "I cut myself",
Twitching as the words
Slipped off his lips,
Psychiatrist; middle-aged woman
Laser-sharp gaze soul-piercing; judgemental-
"Why do you do it?"
"Don't you know that you could
Get infected?"
"Does it not hurt when you do it?"

Psychiatric words neatly whetted
Whet neatly his neatly knitted fear.
Facedown, restless feet, itchy ears, Trembling voice-
"Ma, it hurts...", sniffles, "...very much"
"So much that I dread a bath, Or the wearing of clothes
For fear of pain reminiscent"
..."but Ma, this pain, my pain, is no pain at all
For it hurts only my flesh,
Unlike the ache within;
The faceless wound that bleeds
Nonstop; my injured soul"
"Madam, without ice, a fractured
Bone will swell until it is further
Fractured"
"Ma, the razor is my ice"

Room; dead quiet, save
Air-conditioner that hummed
A song melancholic.
Patient facedown, awaiting further
Judgement, itchy eyes, itchy ears,
Itchy palms, nose itchy.
Impatient, cramping thighs force
Rebellious shriek,
"Madam what are these
On your arms...are they
Not scars...?"
"You cut too...don't you?"

Reluctant shrug, head lowered
Like a dozing labourer-

Chaotic silence,
Time up;
Two patients in need of a psychiatrist.

Three Dreams

              Part 1: Wild Encounters

Resting in my Mother's bosom,
Surrounded by Edenic trees,
The evening wind lulls me
To a Jonah-siesta;
Sometimes God is the wind,
    Sometimes he is not.
Sometimes the Devil also saddles
On the wind
And attacks man. Me. Man.

I am the afflicted.
The evening wind lulls me
To a Jonah-siesta;
And Satan light as a feather
Tickles my ears.
I smile.
I smile in my sleep.
Mother sees not Satan.
But i do, i see him, i see him
With my yin eyes.

The feather is a serpent's
tongue in my ear;
Sssssssssssssss...
          
               It strikes!

Fear wakes me,
This is the first dream.

              Part 2: Assassination

Running, running, running,
In Amazon-like jungle, and
Someone pursuing, pursuing;
I am prey.

I turn, i wait not, keep turning,
Leech on my thigh, don't care
Keep running,
Someone pursuing, pursuing;
I am the prey.

I see nothing...
The darkness is thicker
Than the sperm of a god,
I see nothing...
But run I will,
I won't stop running.

Trip. Tumble. Turn. Tumble.
Roll. Stone-to-head, head-to-stone
Bam! Bam! Bam!
I stop rolling.
My assailant has caught up with me,
Then heaven sneezes, and
Light cuts through the Darkness;
I see his face.
Ah!
      My friend!

This is the second dream.

              Part 3: Burial

32-carat gold coffin; there
I am lying in death, comfortable.
I am standing by my dead body,
Looking, puzzled, looking puzzled,
I am dead and alive,
I am alive and dead.
Should we resurrect the dead...
Or kill the living?

Family members wailing, ululation
For my sleep; terrible lullaby.
Can they not see me standing?

Stop crying, i'm right here.
Stop crying.
Please...

This is the third dream.

              Part 4: Fulfilment

Write the vision down,
That he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet
for an appointed time,
But at the end it shall speak,
And not lie: though it tarry,
Wait for it,
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry;

I didn't write my visions,
They didn't tarry;
Here I am, on an hospital bed
Poisoned by the atter
Of life's bullet
Life is my friend, a serpent,
And my coffin.

I didn't write my visions;
They didn't tarry.
My friend kissed my wife
And poisoned my tea...
Now i'm barely hanging onto life
With Death on my lips;

**Lick**

To my Lover...

Kiss me,
And i will forget
Your sins.

Lust

I had beaten my heart
To a pulp,
So much that I felt nothing anymore.
But as she touched my face
I felt a lightening bolt
Bolt me
in the chest...
Yes the middle of my chest...
Right there,
I felt her electricity.

And that's how I knew...
She was the one.

But who knows
It may be lust.

It may be lust.
God, let it not be lust;

For I have lost too many soulmates
To lust.

She kissed me

She kissed me! She kissed me!
And in that moment,
In that moment;
I found salvation

                     in Hell.

Cancer

Like a cancer she
Keeps popping up
In my heart,

Consuming     consuming
Consuming everything
In her path.

Why...?

Like iron filing to magnet
Evil attracts me.

I am man. Man is evil.
God is good. God hates evil.

So why did he die for me?

If you say because He loves me;
Do not forget,
He hates evil. I am evil.
I am man. God hates evil.
I am evil.

So why did he die for me?

Or maybe...
I am not evil;
That way it makes sense!
God loves me! I am not evil!
But why do i do evil?
Why do I love to do evil?
Why did God die for someone
Who loves to do evil?

That right there
       is the real mystery
For the universe to ponder upon.

Darkness

                           I
And as I sat in pious meditation, listening
To the thoughts of the Universe, caught I was in a trance-
I saw the sun in her beauty pristine, softly glowing
As the flowers stretched to touch be face,
And men beach-bound basked merrily in ethereal rays;
But then something happened:
The Moon, Master of the Night appeared in the sky
And like a tombstone rolled in front of the sun;
Blinding God's eye; chaos!
The flowers like flaccid breasts drooped
And the children of men like troubled ants scattered as fear gripped their souls.
I watched in awe as Darkness stole Nature's beauty,
As Darkness made cowards of brave men.
It was at this point that a spectre,
Like smoke came forth from my nostrils;
Like a genie from a lamp it rose-

    It was Khalil...

                       II
And like a genie from a lamp he spoke, I know this
'Cause I have a genie in a lamp. "Greetings", he said, "Greetings".
Troubled by my vision, athirst for knowledge, I asked,
"Khalil, speak to me of Darkness, and how I may abolish it".
Unmoved by my impatience, he spoke,
     "He who seeks to abolish Darkness has
       within him the Source of Darkness,
       For he is like one who tries to fight the
         wind;
       Verily, is he not a part of the wind?
       For the wind abides in his lungs, and he
        in the wind.
       He who fears Darkness fears himself,
       For in Darkess are his deepest desires
        brought to Light.
       He who fears Darkness fears the Light,
       For what is Light but Darkness unveiled?
       Darkness can be likened to an egg, and
        Light the yolk;
       He who breaks the egg kills the chick.
       To abolish Darkness is to abolish Light,
       And to abolish Light is to abolish Life,
       Son of Man, even the Creator wallowed
        in Darkness
       Before He called forth Light;
       Why seek you to abolish life?

                         III
Defeated, disoriented, desperate
For the abolishment of Darkness I shrieked,
"Khalil, Khalil, is Darkness not the Father of evil,yea, the birthplace
Of all wickedness?"
With a sigh, he spoke,
       "The Godson entered this world
        through the gates of Darkness
       But was murdered in the Light of Day,
       Darkness was the midwife at the
         birthing of salvation on the cross,
       For only in the Dark did the Godson
        offer His sacrifice;
      Much good has been birthed in Darkness.
      Of all the wars that have been fought,
       how many
      Were fought in Darkness?
      Is Light not needed for evil to see?
      Even the evil that is perpetrated in the
       Dark, can only be wrought
      Upon the banishment of Darkness;
      Will the robber rob without his flashlight?
      Or the assassin without his night vision sniper?
      Darkness is the birthplace of good,
      For in Darkness do men dream dreams
       that propel them
      To do great things.
      Can the eye see without the pupil,
      Or the Moon shine without the Night?
      I have said before, Darkness is the
       birthplace of good;
      Teach all men of this Truth"

...And so I took a deep breath, and
Khalil with it.
Then NEPA took the light;
I smiled.

To my Coal-Coloured Cousins

Crushed squashed,  our souls
Munched, minds mangled,
Freedom strangled-
Kunta Kunte sings
Hakuna matata
             In chains as he works
On sugarcane plantations.

Luther Martin speaks:
"I have a dream,
A dream that my children
will not will not be judged
by the color of their skin... (sometime maybe)

But the Present, the Present,  it speaks:
"Coal-coloured American!
What do you do when
You see the badge,
When you see white sirens?"

"Say your (last) prayers,
I think"

A Pensive Song (For Juwon)

Where is the boy that shook hands with me
Two full moons ago;
My adopted brother whose blood
Spiritual courses my veins?
Where is the boy that shook hands with me
That flashed a smile;
So full of warmth,  it drove me insane?

Stop.

Mama Dele told me that Tunde told her
That Funsho told him that Lade told him
That the boy is dead.

Yepa! Iro ni!
Get thee behind me Satan!
Juwon shall not die but live!
No weapon fashioned...
No wea...

Mama Dele told me that Tunde told her
That Funsho told him that Lade told him
That the boy is dead;

Could this be true?
Could it?

**********************************

The campfire burns                brightly
And we,  jocund like children who have found
Chocolate island dance round the flames,
Deaf to the muffled wails of the firewood;
The charring, the charring
Then the ash.
The ash,  the ash
Then the Darkness
Then our feet having lost navigation,
Atrophied by fear of the Dark
Both remember;
        There was a flame,
        And ends, thus, our senseless sway.

Death, O Death!
You have plucked an unripe fruit
And I hope it burns your tongue
Corrodes your lungs, chars your thumb:

DEATH, I WISH THAT YOU WOULD DIE!
DEATH, I WISH THAT YOU WOULD DIE!
DEATH, I WISH THAT

                                      YOU WOULD DIE!

Consoled I am,
                   by only one thought
That our Juwon is heaven-bound.

Mosquito Net

Too often attacked we have been
By anopheles abominations
That roam black earth;
To suck, to suck and to destroy.
Born apyretic were we, until
we passed beside still waters-
Beside disease-giving
Vampire-toothed miniature hell hounds
Who sang merry songs in our ears
As we slept
And a straw put they
In our veins
To suck, to suck and to destroy.
We burnt incense in their honour
Thinking they were spirits
Of our ancestors who felt threatened
By Yahweh's Son and his doctrines.
We were wrong. Terribly wrong.
They only wanted blood. Nothing more.

So we gave them
What they wanted
Gave them one of their own-
We squashed him, and
His blood we gave them to drink.
Petty bastards!
They drank it all...
And still came after our sons.

So we gave them
What they wanted
Gave them one of our own-
We squashed him, and
His blood we gave them to drink.
Petty bastards!
They drank it not...
They accepted not our sacrifice-

The fool in a hurry
Drinks tea with a fork,
We should have bought
A moquito net.

Domestic Violence

Mother is limping; a guerdon
Of her encounter with Bash Ali,
Our father; the embattled one.
All lizards lie on their stomachs;
We don't know which one
Has stomachache.

We are men, we are strong
Let us beat our wives to prove it!
Mon amour, my heartbeat
How dare you talk to me that way?
We are men, we are strong
And we will beat our wives to prove it!
I am the head of the house,
Jesus has given me authority
Over my house.
Wife, you must obey my every word,
Wife, you must satisfy my every want.
We are men, we are strong
And we will beat our wives to prove it!
My fingers itch, I
Will scratch it with the bone of my bone.
I am hungry, I
Will eat the flesh of my flesh.

The lie aeonian:
"...And so they lived happily ever after"

Epilouge it is:
Cinderella,
your eyes are swollen
What happened after honeymoon?
Has the monster been awoken
The one who guised himself a prince?

Beauty has kissed the Beast
Again, but turn he will not 'nto
A prince:
He will turn into The Hulk
And pummel his wife to death.

Tic-tac-toe

We used to draw lines upon lines
Upon lines and fill them lines
with x's and o's
X's and O's that stood for the past;
The esexs and hoes that
Troubled our past.
We scribbled sweet words
At the ends of the paper:
"I love you", "I love you",
"You love me, don't you?"

Euphoric I felt, this love
Is sealed, this love is real
'Tis love I feel.

But one morning dreary
I awoke alone
In the ashes of passion
I awoke alone.

"I love you", "I love you",
"You love me, don't you?"
Tic-tac-toe; my lover is gone.

Catarrh

My nose wet bleeds mucus
Lemon-coloured sweetness;
A toddler's snack in times of hunger.
Nature's ice-cream flows unhindered;
God, He sneezed into my nostrils
Men, they think I caught a cold.
Nature's ice-cream hated by all-
Combated, reviled,
Declared wanted
By WHO.
Scientists working tirelessly
Mixing forming witching
brewing solutions
to staunch "my cold"-

But never have they ever paused to ask,
"Wale enjoy do you your snack?"

Biafra (The Flashback)

I remember back then when
The sun used to rise
In the East, when our Enugu
Was a model of Solomon's temple.
Oduduwa, your children have connived
With the Hausas to excide us
From the land of the living.
The waters have turned to blood,
The fishes have begun to grow legs
The Nigerian Gowon has sterilised
Our stomachs;
                         what is food to a
Prayer warrior?
Karma sleeps when the Igbos
Are in captivity,
In their own land!
Parcels of bombs are delivered
In the markets-
Buffet for the vultures.

Refugee camps are where
We go to die 'cause typhiod
Awaits with open arms.

There is a story of how
The Earth and the Moon
Struggled for ownership of the Sea-

Their tidal clashes crushing
And crushing
Fragile pisces of the Sea-

We will blame the Earth
And the Moon

For the redness of the sea.

We will blame the West
And the North

For the redness of our streams.

Nigeria, we surrender
You have won
Can you hear our children's screams?

Mother Hen

Every month my wife
Lays eggs
But breaks them by sitting
For too long-

My wife is a Mother hen
Without chicks
Because the yolk's
Within my loins.

Holy Water

Angels are urinating
In the River Niger-
They have been drinking
(too much)"Holy Water"

I drank it once too-
"Holy Water"-
I woke up in the gutter.

Poetry

Like an hunter, I chase poetry
I set traps, whet my arrowheads
And lie in wait
Hoping that a stray idea will be my dinner
But like Peter, I wait all night
For a creature that never shows.
Such mockery! I am a sapien
An outwitted sapien;
An hunter whose game
Knows how to play the game.

It is a family tradition
To write a poem once in three days-
I have failed my fathers; I have failed
Poetry has eluded me.

Devastated, emaciated,
Fell I into a deep sleep
And a dream I had
Of melting mountains and burning seas
Of gnomes, of ghosts and ogres that weep
Then it came, the voice, it came;
              "When the Son of Man is lifted up
               I will draw all men unto myself"
Then saw I two large testicles
Fall from the sky into the sea
And much froth there was
That covered the face of the sea.

From much froth rose a dame unclad
Like two full moons her breasts they shone-
What has poetry to do with this?
Of what business have I with dreams?

Awoke I did only to find
Poetry unclad        stroking my hair-

I am not the hunter, she is
I am a prey hunting myself (for her)

We are not the writers, she is
She is the one writing our names
In the sands of time.

I am not a poet because
I write poetry
I am a poet because
Poetry uses me

Because
Poetry uses me
        to express herself.

Wrong War

Eviscerate him! Eviscerate him!
No. Embalm him with tyres
And tell Sango Olukoso
to hurl stones, heavy stones
Upon this vermin,
For 50naira has he stolen
From Iya Kunle's shop.
For 50naira we shall take his life.

Ha! Baba Senator! Baba Senator!
Everyday Baba Senator
With his Eleganza pen does
Dwimmers building a dystopia
In the hearts of the masses...
Contract 242 worth 700billion naira
Is awarded to ghosts who seem
To share the same blood with Baba.
Baba!

Arise O Compatriots!
Only to die of poverty and hunger.
They have taken the hoe
From the farmer
And the engineer has lost
His spanner
Arise O Compatriots!
Prepared    we have    your graves.

The thief sits in our churches
And receives the Holy Ghost
The thief kneels in our mosques
Chanting his Lahilah
We sit with them, we pray with them
We pray for them:
Lord, save us from the ravaging
Dollar.
We pray

                      wrongly.

The Dollar is not the thief,
The thief is not the Dollar.

Sango Olukoso strums a pensive
Hymn in the heavens
for all to hear
The rains will soon come,
For our leaders, let us pray
And our brothers, let us maim.

Crown him! Crown him!
Yes. Adorn his wife with purple
Linen
And his children with the finest
Apparel:

The thief, the thief
we name our king
But our brothers
Will die in the streets
(For stealing 50naira)

The war is won.
Let the heathen rejoice!

Priest

They don't know a thing about heaven-
The priests, bishops, pastors
       that teach you-
they have no clue.
They know nothing of the Devil-
The priests, bishops, pastors
       that teach you-
they have no clue.
The city of heaven has blooded carpets,
blood of the innocent; ululation of Abel.
Stolid mansions have no sky to scrape
Many       many mansions
have turned to gravestones.
The Devil is the curtain that adumbrates
our wily wantings that eructate
from the bottomless pit within.
The bottomless pitisbottomless
because the bottom ofthebottomless
pit is up above-
                                 wearefalling
intothesky
                into disguise.

How know I these?
I                  am a priest.

Traffic

                                           I
Three people on a horse
strong Honda horse, that gallops on rounded hoofs
that peel and screech
everytime we tramp its reins.
God's eye is asleep, and
the sky is left to die,
we are left with the moon
to guide us, keep us
on black paths as we ride on Honda horse.

My horse is one in a thousand, we
are a pack of languid heroes lined
side by side by side by side-
neighing to war,      some,
racing to warmth,     others,
and our tails are shaded red.

                                          II
Mother must take us home,
alive not dead, only alive.
Jesus has conquered death
we will too, I think.
but we must first     die      to conquer
death, we
must die like He did,    we must!
How do we cross Jordan?
How do we cross Jordan with Jonah
juggling our fates in his sleep?
His snores whisper death, his snores;
they tickle Hades.
How do we get home with our cross
in the hands or Jonah?

                                        III
*click*click
"This one's for facebook", said the fish-
Stagnant waters had stiffened
his legs, stagnant waters had
over time given him time to walk-
to walk and snap horses; to walk.

Loki and his coterie mock
the Paling horses, their laughter is atter
to our courage-
they offer a path without storm
where our horse would roam free
on black grass;          "one-way"
they called it-
A free runway for my languid horse.
I                was                 happy,
I was.

                                        IV
We tried to wake Jonah, gut
He was dead, we tried,        we
tried to wake him.
I tried to wake Jonah, but
He was dead, I tried,            I
tried to wake him.
Hades had taken from us his friend,
So we slept too-
We slept and galloped to the other side
We followed Loki-
Mother swerved from Hell
to Hell fire.
Hell fire was just as we'd heard-
Devoid of black grass
desolate and rocky
but we loved it,               I loved it
and the Honda horse did too
So he galloped all the way
till we got to heaven-            home.

Rosary

My rosary has no cross,           yet
I pray with it
to an
unknown god.

Don't get jealous
Jesus,

                                                You refused
                 
                         to come down

from the cross.

Blunt

The pen is mightier
than the sword, only
when the sword is blunt.

Flame

I am roasting
in the flames,
that once clothed me.

Glass

My heart is not made of glass-
It is made of stone, and
I will stone you         to death.

Sea

I am washing away          speedily
like sands on the seashore-

She is the sea.

In my room

In my room, I can
smell fresh blood in the air, and
My book is crimson red.

Balanced

I am an egg           balanced
on a needle-

I am not balanced.

Dive

Just when I was about
to dive in-

into her heart,      unclad
and vulnerable:

I saw a shark circling,
right where I was supposed to splash

And piranhas had devoured
already
                        my reflection.

God bless my cautious soul.

Resurrection

Waltzing around your fingers-
your ten-pronged pitchfork
ripping off flesh from my back
as you remould me in your image

                 of pain and forgiveness.

Come.
Carry my Lazarus to
celestial potholes grooved
                in nulls
between your breasts.

Resurrect me there.

Don't ever come back

Don't ever come back
                                   to me
in this world or the next
Just stay aloof-
let us repel,
'cause if you turn
in this world or the next;
I will immerse you
in eons of pain
and your garments
                             will
sackcloths be-

drag you in mire,
sit you on spikes

for every second you left me afire.

Noah

Noah              saved all animals,
                       (even microbes)        but
also sacrificed
                       some animals-   what

        ruffles me
is whether
       they're actually extinct,    or

They're immortal gleams

            bouncing-

                          bouncing
                                 off the rainbow...

Narrow gate

Narrowgate        of           hea-
ven, I amplump,          tooplump,       what
would you have me do?

She dropped the knife

She dropped the knife, as
I hugged her hurt, and
mopped her tears.
The knife shrieked
as it
met the earth.
"I hate life-
the very idea of breathing"
I hugged her tight,
like a monk clasps its mother
for fear of falling,
like her
knife.
"Not today love, not today,
Not tomorrow or the days that follow"

I'll tame the knife and
quench its bloodthirst;
teach it to live
like the spoon
and the stars-
giving life,          life
and
                        death sometimes.

Ablaze

It's either

you burned faster

          than I did,        or

    

                you were never ablaze.

Light

I see the Light
It's not white, but
I'll move towards it anyway.

Martyr

I am a martyr
dragged to his death
by your nonchalant horse.

Gory Jolly

It's Christmas,          but
the jolly in my heart
         is like the placenta

of the baby Jesus-

            gory
                        and
            unwanted.

21st Century Slavery

                                              I
Oppressed , we were, yet
in love we are
with our oppressors-
the dungeon, the dungeon
is a palace,
give me for meat
my daughter's eyes
on a plate of rice
garnish it please,
with her liver.
Thanks.

Fill also my cup
with her blood, and
leave me drink till my
stomach groans.

                                           II
Oppressed , we were, yet
in love we are
with our oppressors-
Long live the Queen!
that stripped me of me
and whipped my son
till his blood turned black
as coal
in his veins.

I am a king. I am a king
who eats bones for meat.

                                      III
Oppressed, I am, yet
in love I am
with my oppressors-
My sandals are green
with algae that breathes
coldheartedness
into my lungs.

I will kill  my brother's brother
and will pretend
my brother did it.

                                  IV
My brothers are girls
with espenes-
they're in love
with their oppressors-

So,
they bury their will
they bury their zeal
and wag their tails
to their oppressors.

Eclipse

The Crescent Moon is an hunchback supine,
gazing at gods crypted in stars-
        "Make me a lycanthrope that hunts Capra,
Mauls Capra, and gnaws her meat, I
want to see a star bleed, I
want to see a star plead
         for mercy"- (demented dreams).
Her skull is cracked-the moon- her skull
is cracked like a pelted mirror,     and
the Night has slithered in.
Selene has fallen for Pan
Selene has fallen for Pan
Selene has fallen for panics of Pan.
Now she wants the tunic of Pan
Pan has no tunic, he has no tunic
Pan is a wildling churning her soul.

Apollo-      blind me,         hide me,        lose me
          andfindme
'cause I will
          never find peace-
Selene is chafed, her back is arched;
crescented and apt to bury my Pan.

Guardian demon

There are mutterings that cannot be uttered
which invoke the gods on our behalf-
whispers that have you falter

and quiver whenever you remember
(them).
I am the invoked god that never laughs
that sings and weeps on my altar

I am the invoked god that utters
their wants, their dreams, their gaffs.

I am the inscription on your palms
I am the hair that stands erect

I am your shadow that never sleeps
      Your         little          guardian         demon.

Barefooted Memories

Sometimes it's the
Barefooted Memories,
trying to tiptoe past your eyes
that remind you of the past
that indict you for the past

Little do they know-
Barefooted Memories,
trying to tiptoe past your eyes
There are footprints in the sand
that their footsteps will rebound.

We will strut the selfsame paths, and
will lust for true love's pat, I
will make the same mistakes
everytime you cross my mind.

Yoru-Christianity

God created the earth in six days,
Oduduwa created it in six minutes,

I was there-
I was in Oduduwa's calabash (stolen from Orunmila)
I was the dust to whom God gave his breath.

We have fallen from grace with Oduduwa
    We have fallen from favour with God!
I have twisted      the six-toed cock's head-
I have murdered the Son of God!

Oduduwa's accomplice will crow once more
and its wail will smash the sun-
There will be no night or daytime
when the Son of Man shall come-

They will come to amerce us:
Oduduwa and His Lord.

The Moon

The Moon was actually a shooting star
hurling madly to the earth,
who for her love of comely Her-
chose to halt and shine till death.

Sun

We have been fooled by the sun
if we go real close enough-
there will be no heat but frost,
there will be not heat      at all

if only, we touched the sun.

The Walls

The walls         are not
          closingin
they are moving apart,
farther
                     apart
and
      I can't find the door.

Heal

When it comes to you
I will never heal-

I will peel the wounds
if they try to heal.

Dream

I loved her so much,
She thought it a dream
so

               she woke up.

Houseflies

Too busy
tending her bruises

to notice my sores, and

    houseflies that feed.

Future

No wonder

the birds chirped 

endlessly at my window

every morning-

        they were yelling

a warning, 'cause

        they had seen the future,      our future

our different futures.

Chronos

The beauty of a flower
is best appreciated
by leaving it be,

untouched,
causing a universal enchantment.

Yet, there's a time for prunning
the painful part-    shearing sting
that turns petals to dust-

the season of kissing our
futures goodbye
yielding to scythes wielded
by Chronos.

Mighty Chronos
I will run from you
till I hear stories
of your death
and drink from
jugs of athanasy-

I am no flower.

Memories

She is a tornado       that
                   sucked the sun
from its socket-     and

thrust my soul
into rippling Darkness.

Now I see nothing,     but
choose to closemyeyes-
(there's a glimmer in there)

'cause that's
where she lives now-

in          my         memories.

Shadow

Don't promise to be my guardian angel,
(I have one)
Rather be my shadow-
that way I'll know you're real

that way I'll know        when you leave.

Love finite

Lost in cerebric utopia
charring blithely in fountains
of lave,
I am impaled     by your words
Trapped in spaces
between my lungs.

Don't you help him on his feet!
He's a cripple from his birth-
He was born the day
they met,      and
he died the day
she left.

We are made of heaven's breath,     but
       heaven has choked in space
Love is finite when we meet
     'cause your feelings melt away.

Magical Moments

You regret                     the
              "magical moments"
Not because you didn't love him
      Not because you didn't love her-
but because
        you finally figure;

                       You were the only one
who did magic-
             
                               who did magic
                           for
                               an audience that cheered.

Insomnia

Crickets are chirping
in my head, when all of
Nature takes its rest.
Silence is a mockingbird
Proudly squealing me my fears.

Whole

I have learned to listen
to our favourite song
without                       tears.

I am whole
                  without you,

I see that now.

Seconds

We lived
in the lapses
between ticks
and tocks-

Counting our eternity
in seconds.

Off the edge

Ants only fellowship
when sugar is in sight
Many men will cease
to call you friend
when your purse is light.

The gods are not crazy;
we are.            We are
crazy for thinking
the earth is flat
for thinking
we can push love
off the edge
into Hell.
We are crazy
for forgetting
that the earth is a ball
of karma, and
Love will roll
all the way back-
to pummel us.

         Hard.

Squeeze

My tears were no just
a sign of grief-

Each tear was a memory
                                       of you
squeezed out of my heart
till
     there was nothing left
of
      you in me.

Forgive me for mourning your loss.

Yin eyes

Mother says I have yin eyes
              that I see the ghosts of her fathers
Mother is wrong,          or right
or right
                         and wrong
'Cause only one eye is yin, and
the other is a perfect yang.

Laozi is my friend, like Jesus
like Buddha, like Zeus
and Athena. I see them all
with my yin eyes (unlike
Mother's ancestors
who I see with my yang eye
'cause they vanished like the Night
when the British touched our shores).

My yang eye; mother must not know
I have it; mother must not know
her Ancestors are in the dark
that the Heavenly King has them bound.

Mother is happy for my two yin eyes
I am happy for my one yang eye
'Cause with it I see her father-
and with it I tell White lies.

He who has no sin...

Orunmila the oracular voice in our spirits
has been silenced by Esu's virulent snore,
Esu is in a deep sleep; the kind that made
a legend of Jonah. Esu is no man.

        Smear the tip of your tongue with
palmoil
        And weep for Aurora, the cursed
Harlot-
       Whose bosoms housed Ogun when
He visited Greece
       Whose thirst for debauchery will never
cease-
       Aphrodite the dawn-curser; your
tongue is bee!

My tongue; birthplace of ase,
Wake Esu from his slumber,
free Aurora from her curse, and
Let he who has no stone,
cast the first sin   (at me).

Slavemaster

A million nations
between my thighs
crying daily for independence-

Curse my mind,
the wicked slavemaster
whose law we must uphold.

Groanings that can be uttered

I am under the shadow
of God-
the bright darkness
outshining a million suns.


I am etched neatly
in His palms-
like fossils petrified
by a million suns.

I am the apple
of God's eyes-
My golden glow
will melt a million suns.

He just had sex!
She just ate weed!
We're all craving sins
fueled by innocent greed.

I am a sinner,           I consent.
We're all sinners,            please consent.

Come to Him
all ye that labour
Let my Father give you rest-
Let my Father wipe your tears

and make them flames of a millions suns-
The Holy Ghost!

Crusader

Lions and gazelles; friends from former life
Now enemies for        woes of former life.

David is robust; now a Goliath
The rose has shed her leaves from former life.

My apple is sprangled with nails that gripe-
The truth was killed in her former life.

Touch not my anointed; do me much harm
Cast me the sorrows of her former life.

Wale was a crusader waging for
her; history is dead-  my former life.

In the last days

I am a young man that dreams
(Your young men shall see visions)
Morpheus has taken me captive
(Your young men shall see visions)
I have stepped outside time in space
(Your young men shall see visions)
Zeus sent me a lying dream
(Your young men shall see visions)

I never should have slept

(My young eyes will see visions)

I never should have dreamt

(My young eyes have dreamt visions)

Parallels

Mi amor,

whoever you are,

We are two

parallel lines

Fated to

Never meet.

My Chest

My heart is beating in my head

and my chest is filled with thoughts-

                   where to go

I know not

                   where you go

I cannot, I cannot

for love is lost.

Her heart is beating in my head

and my chest is filled with hurt.

Zing

Your name
is coded
in my genes

You will forever
be my zing!

Psychiatric Ward

Four beds, three patients-
I think the other guy died
or was discharged
or died
            and was discharged
or was discharged
and died
             or
Maybe he was never even here.

Who knows?
After all, this is the psychiatric ward.
And I'm on bed number 2.

The Doctor

The Doctor his diagnosis
is his, not mine
He's perfectly sane (they say), too sane
that his sanity made him buy
only one garment
(that he wears everyday)
and the white man's serpent
which he wears proudly 'round his neck-

Someday the serpent will rise
when the moon is aglow,
the serpent will coil round hiss neck
tightly
when he's alone
in his bed
and will break his neck
like biscuit bone.
and then
they will know

He is the insane one
and I, sane.

Beautiful Demon

I have spent decades in this
place, (this accursed psychiatric
temple where the monks eat meat
and carry "bloods"in bags transcluscent).
I have spent decades of seconds
of months, of years,
In all,
I have spent decades
of many things.
But in all my wantings
wanderings, founderings
longings-
Never have I met
such beautiful demon
whose heart is made
of pristine darkness
and whose voided soul
makes me want to
lose mine,

Hooked

I clasped your hands in mine, but
        they pierced through mine

Pierced through mine
like a fishhook would a fish-

I am wriggling
at the ends
of your fingertips-

Hooked on a love
that would
Devour me whole.

Your Smile

Your smile does not
Light up my world.
No,
(I have the sun
to do that for me).

What it does-your smile-
What it does
is to light up my heart
and bring peace to my soul-

'Cause that's where
the Darkness lives...

That's where
the Sadness is...

I can't tell the Doctor

I can't tell the Doctor
I want to bite off his nose
and yank off his ears

I can't tell the Doctor;

He'll up my dose
and put me to sleep-

I am no princess
with a Charming to kiss-

I wish my demons
were forever asleep.

Olympus

It took Agamemnon
ten years to conquer Troy.

I would burn Olympus
to the ground

in less than a second
if anyone took you from me!

Sunset

The darkness moves
in the dark
and sunlight flees
from its grasp.

The darkness schemes
in the dark
and the sun falls
'nto the trap.

I have dug
a hole
intheWest
and buried
the sun
in it.

Abiku

Bury my hand, only
My hand
and burn the rest
of me to ash.

Sprinkle my ash
in the Niger-

And you will find me
in your womb.

Euthanasia

They pulled out his veins
Like thread from a coat, and
subtly,         strangled him with it.

Money Ritual

Spit on my navel
And say your prayers-

Butcher me
with a chainsaw

Lick the blood
off your knee

Then pick the dollars
on the floor.

The telling

The telling; fast or slow
Harsh or mellow
I know not how
"Mother, I am sick"
"Mother, I am in the hospital"
"Mother, my brain tickles"
I know not how; the telling
I know not how
For mother is glass
and I; hailstone
and i will break
her aged heart.

Talk to me Lord
Eternal Father,
would you have me
kill your wife?

Atlantis

Dig the rivers in search
of Atlantis
probe the oceans and the seas
dig with shovels, only shovels
find, you will, only
your grave.

Baptise me in the
River Nile, and
Drown my soul in the
Sea of Reeds
For the children of Jacob
Destroyed Atlantis
the day they crossed
the Sea of Reeds-

For the children of Israel
destroyed Atlantis
the day we crossed
the Jordan stream.

Mrs Micah Barren

I am pregnant with
my faeces, and my wife
is jealous of me.

The Rain

The rain is water
from God's bathroom, and hailstone
is from His toilet.

Life and Death

Ravens sweep the cloudless skies
A lizard's yes is yes and no
Mountain peak below my knee
Death is life; I should have known.

Trees stolid adore the skies
Humming as the pupa grows
Pupa eats the humming tree
Life is Death; I should have known.

Ravens sweep the cloudless skies
A lizard's yes is yes and no
Mountain peak above my knee
Death will die; I should have known.

Tenebrous

Her aura is tenebrous
like mine-

Together we will quench
the stars.

Tomorrow

Death is closer than I think
I see its shadow by my bed
The shadow recedes when the sun appears.
The shadow is not a shadow.

"I will see you tomorrow"
I am not sure
I will see tomorrow
The Reaper sings me lullabies
everytime the lights go out.

Ah! I miss the day before-
The day before when I was sure
the day before when we were sure
that I would see tomorrow.

Adam's apple

Adam swallowed perdition
whole,
and now it is stuck
in my throat.

Tree

The hummingbird whistles
a warning to the tree-
the tree has no ears.

Sunflower

When the rains come, the
sunflower sweats, and I
shiver in my bed.

Possession

I've been possessed by the most
unclean angels
Angels whose wings were clipped by the
Godson
They churn my mind, my mind like butter
and their elbows, they grease with my thoughts.

There are three black birds
in my gut
Each of which whisper to me-
kill yourself, kill your mother

            I'm not insane, I am possessed
I am possessed by the
Purest of demons.

Burn burning

Strike a match
set the universe ablaze-

kill a tree
and you've murdered
a whole generation (of humans).

Albino

I have a son, a
yellow son that glows
in the dark
when the moon is blind.

My son, my treasure
who's complexion is the sun.
Albino, my child, the
son of my youth-
come with me to the herbalist's grove
where no one will laugh at you
come with me, my caucasian son
and I will come out smiling.

Alone.

Sleeptalking

I have seen the dead
sleeptalking
                   in their beds.

Yes, dead people dream too!
In fact, the dream is far too sweet
they choose to never wake.

Father's hut

In my vision, I saw
a man pick up the earth
like a loaf of bread
and break it.

He gave me the half
with Africa on it
and told me to
crush it.
I told him to crush
his half first,
                     he hesitated.

so. I hesitated too,
I refused to crush
my father's hut.

Genesis

Our love had its genesis
when the stars were but toddlers
and the Eternal Father
roamed the surface of the deep.

We were in the deep.

Making love amid the chaos
of exploding gases

Holding hands as we watched
the infant sun
                      set on the fourth day
of creation.

Let's die

         Let's                                                              die
Holding                
                                      hands.

I found the serpent

The smoke of

deceit levitates over

our heads,

pall, black-  blinding

the sun.

Smithereens of

the past lie on

the floor,

frore, cracked-   goring

our burns.

Unearth the hachet, bury

the olive

hunt for the tortoise that captured

the Lion

Eat, sleep

sleep, deep-

I found the serpent

that swallowed my egg.

Treasure Hunt

Ascending, ascending
Tears, worry
Sweat, fears
Marslow your pyramid
is Babel to us!

I'm climbing, you're climbing
she's panting, he's fighting
I wonder, we wonder
Who will get there first?

The thoughts of God
are written in ink
for those who care
        to stop and think-

Millions are fighting
fighting and panting
panting for treasure                        (hidden in ink)

Descending, descending
        Descending to heaven-

killing my pride
To nurture my dreams.

Force

Your love
     is the force
            that holds
My atoms together-

And its death

will rupture
My soul.

Freedom

Alone
with forest friends
awing in sunset glee
watching raptly the orange
sun sink into the thickets
              into the throats
              of screaming crickets,
flies restless like fighter jets
fight for right over
my fragrant corpse-

carry my carrion
into the veins of the earth-
Leave me ripen
and burst with worms-
Freedom is the gleam
at the tip
of the Reaper's sickle-

Set me free,         please.

Pornography

We want to watch our mothers
Clamber the hills of ecstasy
And briskly touch ourselves in pursuit.

The father without shame pummels
His daughter with the rod
Not meant for the child.

The newly weded couple
Throw the sanctity of secrecy to the gyre
Of the camera; Lord we are watching.

The woman is not our helpmate
She is a device employed
For the satisfaction of our concupiscence.

Eve will not get pregnant
And Adam will use no raincoat
Eve will not get pregnant.

The priest sacred will orgasm,
Spilling his seed unborn
Onto the bossoms of his concubine:

Eve never gets pregnant.

We are blind because we
Think we can
See.

Pursue sin we do wholeheartedly;
And Death follows behind.

We are blind because we
Think we can
See.

Our little sister is naked,
And we peep through the keyhole
Briskly touching ourselves in pursuit of death.

Then Èsù whispers, "why not open
The door?"
"Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat
Of every tree of the garden?"

Ah! Èsù ma se mi o, omo elòmíràn
Ni ko se
Little sister; lamb for the slaughter,
Oblivious of the hymen-eating
Monsters that lurk in the house.

Courage satanic grabs hold
Of the mind, and the limbs burst
Into action.
The knock, when it came, subtle, masquerading
The wantings that hold the reins:

"Sade, Sade, open the door, I want to
Take something in your room?"

Yepa! it is finished;

...the monster is let in;
We will blame the Devil (as usual).

Who ?

I-
Am not he, the one
Known as he
That made you a heap
Of sorrow and grim.
I,
Not he, will cloak
You with me, to
Give all of me- and
Weep most of me                     to you.
I,
He- two sides
Of a coin
Three trials have begun
Three times he has won.

You arethe witch
Fondling          with           time
                      flippingyourwishes-
Wrinkling your heart.

Harmattan

Your are the breeze
That steals from us our greeny lea
And tells the flowers to close their eyes.
You are the wind,
That steals our tears before we cry
And paints the grass a golden brown.
Apollyon. Apollyon.
Have you done this thing to us?
Have you breathed your breath on us?
Have you sent our death to us?
You have licked up morning
Dews
Like a kitten licks its paws
And left our faces                           white
And and noses                                 damp
Harmattan. Harmattan.
Latching parching                        tropical snow
Hovering blowing, draughty dusty
She is my tropical snow.

Cherubim

Would we still need guardian angels
In heaven,
After the judgement of brimstone
And fire?
Would we still need to pray to them-
Holy winged creatures
Trumping our trials?
'Cause I think I made mine mortal-

Cherubim                                  kissed
                  my sorrows away

Flew through the portal,
Heavened my lips-

Sealing her fate,
Ending her life.

Olohitare

O              lo             hi            ta           re
My love
My heartbeat

I              love         you          so         much-
Your heart
My bandit

          I
                   Fell
                                 For
                                               You
Your love
My heartbeat

And            I'll                                  Everyday
                                    Fall

For you-
My heartbeat.

Yemoja

Beneath the eyelids
Are visions dreary
Yemoja is running barefooted
To me-
In her hands are two bright stars
Covered in palm oil, scorching her palms.
She is a denizen of Atlantis
Cursed to wander the
Gully of tears.
Beneath the eyelids
Are visions dreary
Yemoja is running bare-breasted
To me.

Cherubim

Would we still need guardian angels
In heaven,
After the judgement of brimstone
And fire?
Would we still need to pray to them-
Holy winged creatures
Trumping our trials?
'Cause I think I made mine mortal-

Cherubim                                  kissed
                  my sorrows away

Flew through the portal,
Heavened my lips-

Sealing her fate,
Ending her life.

Maggots

I have gobbled meat
Fecund with maggots, maggots
         they looked like spice-
Those vibrant threads,
Tasted like spice-
Those boisterous shreds
         bestrewn with
Sudor juiced from the sky.
Emptiness is venom
         yet, comely,
Luring us all into her nest.
My lines have fallen in horrid places,
    and

                       the maggots have burrowed there.

Spit     spilt    splits    spit
I alone have eaten defeat-
Ingested it
Digested it
I,                  we will trample defeat.

Eternal Dust

Burning with desires writhen-

We eloped to garden deserts
Planted in spaces between the stars.

We went there to burn.
Quietly.

To show the earth we were made
Of Eternal dust.

Black and blue

She ran out of my grasp
Into black and blue visions
Of him-

...black and blue lesions
From him.

                          Now she's blind.

Bleeding

I have been perfectly scarred
Inside.
No healing. A forever wound
At my core.
Quietly bleeding
Like a spring.

Bleeding. Endlessly.

Conundrum

Whirling in life's vortex
With a lancerated will-
Broken bones broken by boars,
Loll in gloaming plains that peel.
I am kneeling on thorns that thorn
My heels as Achilles is invoked
At the T-junction of peace.

There is an eclipse,
Moon is afire
Begnawed by sun- son of
Nimrod
Kneel before me, beknight our king
Beknight our king, and
Achilles will heal.

Could be

It could be that
While trying to paint
Our love in the skies

I killed the sun, and
Reddened the Moon,

Breaching the gulf between
Heaven and earth-

God didnt like that,
                                          so

He took you from me.

Shredded

She said,"I want you
So bad, but
Not bad
Enough to stay"

He set her loose-
Watched her fly into hungry skies.

She came back though, as the rain-
Shredded. Shredded by angels
On lust's platter.

He was her demon-
She should have stayed

She should have stayed
In his possession.

Butterfly

She was a butterfly.
Trapped.
In the
Clench of his fists.

Well...
She loved it.
Till it dawned on her-

He was never alive.

Hydra

I have given to Pluto, Hydra
For her upkeep- to defrost her ice
Jealous sun has sneezed
On our child, spat in her eyes, our coal-coloured
Child.
Give your orisons to the dove
Let them sleep in its gold-crusted wings
This is my flaw, well beloved flaw, I
Trusted the sun, I trusted too much.
Where is Hydra?
Where is Pluto?
Where is the child that cried in our arms?
Where is Pluto?
Where is Hydra?
Where is the baby-
Her soul-piercing eyes?

Little Judas

Curled up in blissful slumber
Child-like cuddle of the dark

Tick                                           tock

Tock                                          tick

Greying beards caught in the web

"Time is now, sacrifice is mine"-
Voice in the wall, the
Clock has a tongue!

"Blood of Jesus, blood of Jesus!"
Little Judas
Remembers the Lord.

Watermelon

I chewed your words- your
Bright red watermelon with
Nails and pins for seeds.

The bank in my school

Rivers converge
In this building-
Thirsting for leaves
That hang on the vault. Gasping
Rivers hungry for breath as
They flow into cemented cracks,
"Where is the root, the
Fountain of youth, where
Is the stranger
Manning our loot?"
Rivers are vexing sweating
Weary morbid
Creeping
Sluggishly on their beds.
"Run with the winds
Bring me a fish, throw
In a coin, we'll grant you your
Wish"
A million gold coins in the River
Yet the priest will give us none.

Suicide

Lips on her wrist
Pouted for his kiss-
Serrated breath

Slice
The arteries,

Like knife to wrist-
Lucifer's kiss, Lucifer's
Peace:

              Suicide.

Your touch

Your touch;
Scorpion bite
Hit knife searing my skin-

Touch me. I want your
Pain- your fingers, laced with
Barbs.
Deep. In my skin.

Ghost

I feel it
Everytime-

The itch to
Seal your lips with mine, and
Breathe through your lungs

But...

You are a ghost-
Rambunctious wind,
Choking me daily
Searing my tongue.

Magma

The lies I have told-
Molten magma in my mouth
Throbbing- melt my cheeks.

I found the serpent

The smoke of
Deceit levitates over
Our heads,
Pall, black- blinding
The sun.

Smithereens of
The past lie on
The floor,
Frore, cracked- goring
Our burns.

Unearth the hachet, bury
The olive
Hunt for the tortoise that captured
The Lion
Eat, sleep
Sleep deep-

I found the serpent
That swallowed my egg.

Mathematics

"Mathematics-you must-
Study mathematics!"
He poofed, his eyes
Heavy-laden with anger-
Barely fitting their sockets
Like jack-in-the-box,
"Get it? It's Math or
Nothing", he said, I nodded
Unbothered, I nodded-
His bother- "Get me
The whip, go on your knees"
I picked up the snake, it
Gave me his venom; his
Pronged desires have
Crippled my will. Dish me
Arithmetics, Algebra,
Kinetics. Pythagoras will weep
At Theorem's funeral, Galileo
Will curse this honest criminal-
I am a poet,
I am the truth, tell Mathematics
I am his root.

Ghost

I feel it
Everytime-

The itch to
Seal your lips with mine, and
Breathe through your lungs

But...

You are a ghost-
Rambunctious wind,
Choking me daily
Searing my tongue.

A day fast spent

Shrivelled and bleached
After a day fast spent
In punctilious demeanour
Or pensive scribbling
Light will beckon, fooling
Retinas that Titanic is ashore.

Michael will knock, we'll
Welcome me home, or
Hades will knock, and
Blacken my hopes

Drumming will cease in
The chamber of spirits, the
Gangan will sing blue praises
Till dawn

Black skins, black suits.
Black rains will fall
The earth will drink
From cups six feet tall.

Drowning

I am facedown in your love-
Without gills, drowning

Slowly,

                         Drowning-
My screams
Trapped in the bubbles.

Execution

Noose around my neck,
Legs kicking the air- she is
My execution.

The bank in my school

Rivers converge
In this building-
Thirsting for leaves
That hang on the vault. Gasping
Rivers hungry for breath as
They flow into cemented cracks,
"Where is the root, the
Fountain of youth, where
Is the stranger
Manning our loot?"
Rivers are vexing sweating
Weary morbid
Creeping
Sluggishly on their beds.
"Run with the winds
Bring me a fish, throw
In a coin, we'll grant you your
Wish"
A million gold coins in the River
Yet the priest will give us none.

Suicide

Lips on her wrist
Pouted for his kiss-
Serrated breath

Slice
The arteries,

Like knife to wrist-
Lucifer's kiss, Lucifer's
Peace:

              Suicide.

Yesterday's Princess

Yesterday's princess-
Your eyes have whispered again,
Arrow in my chest.

Fall

Your words throttle
Every speck of my chaos
Pulsating thewing
Me into your looping
Matrix

Browned, punch-drunk
Like           gravity's             leaves
I fall to you
I fall for you.

Birthday

I'll love you
Till your hair turns grey
And the wrinkles appear,
I'm here today
I'll be there that day-

We'll laugh together
At the first strand
Of grey
We'll dine together
On your eightieth
Birthday

Benumbed

Adam has rumpled
The edge of the book,
Slathered the covers
With smut from his brook

Benumbed; his muscles-
The monster is blind,
Exiled to pages, way
Outside her bight

Benumbed; the monster-
His muscles are blind
Bounded in cages, he
Founded in fright.

Adam is Adam. Adam is
Me-
Ghosted by feelings-
Ghosted by her.

Paris

The angel baby,
On her blood splattered carpet,
Bullets in her head.

Birthday

I'll love you
Till your hair turns grey
And the wrinkles appear,
I'm here today
I'll be there that day-

We'll laugh together
At the first strand
Of grey
We'll dine together
On your eightieth
Birthday

Beautiful Bondage

Release me, please
From your beautiful bondage
Release me, before
My heart sings prolapsus

Yes, I know you
Love the rhythm;
How my chest
Daily beats for you, but

My ears are deaf
To such beautiful music,
They are clogged with
Thoughts of you

Where is the switch, throw
Me the key
Pull out the leech, do
It for me

I will run from
Beautiful bondage
Till her chest beats
For me.

The Feat

Look at the sandstorm

Gallop like a unicorn
The reins are gone,
Her mane is ghoul

Look at the stardust

Sprinkled on forevermore
Her spark is lorn,
Her fingers; we torched

Seal the windows-
Refuse to see, let
The darkness be your bliss

Heal the meadow-
Refuse to flee, let
Your carcass be the feat.

Alexithymia

Antimatter squirms, little
Nina hops to the hills-
Introverted screams, subtle
Tricks played from within,
Are you a prince; are you a wish?

Footsteps, gasp-

Alexithymia.

All we are

I think I am stuck
In your mire, repeatedly
Visiting the gallery
Of the past;
That point where
I undressed the truth
Darkest second
Of all time.

I think I am lost
In your lies, repeatedly
Roaming the maze
Of your heart;
Painted illusions
Your quagmire-
That's all there is
That's all we are.

Breathe

Breathe your
Thoughts on your
Pillow, slowly,
And let them
Come alive
In my dreams

All we are

I think I am stuck
In your mire, repeatedly
Visiting the gallery
Of the past;
That point where
I undressed the truth
Darkest second
Of all time.

I think I am lost
In your lies, repeatedly
Roaming the maze
Of your heart;
Painted illusions
Your quagmire-
That's all there is
That's all we are.

Pause

Pause. Bite me
Feast on my lips
Dance on my hips
Pause. Kiss me
Fall on your knees
Wander my seas
Pause. Touch me
Shock me with waves
Bring out the cave-
In me
Stop. Wake me
This is not real-
This is a dream, she
Said

Good Mad Love

Heard my friends say
Love is of many types; the
Sad, the happy, the
Crazy one that makes you go nuts,
Heard them mention anger
Love, dark love, depressing
Love, the
Ones that make you go numb,
Even lust
Love, stupid love; I
Heard them say.

What baffles me though,
Is that no one mentioned the
God love
That made God go mad,
So mad He sacrificed His Son,
The good mad though; insanity
Of a loving Father
I want that love, I
Think nothing beats that
I want that love, to
Show you so bad.

Burn

Seven billion candles
Meeting glowing everyone
Burning standing wishing
For one magical wand.

Candles are worried
Thinking shrinking bothered
Screaming searching hoping
For one cordless bond.

I think they are blind
Running panting hunting
Digging refusing
To see the Ark in the flood.

The earth is drenched
In the waters of love, I
Choose to burn-
To melt with you.

Foggy Paths

Rumpled grey matter
Grasps endlessly at
Slippery ticks of the pendulum-
Pointing to spice-decked sepulchres.

Meanders plague the sunless
Trip, manna fail the thoughtless
Feet, why are the
Clouds enceinte with bane?
Baboon's butt has no gain.

Help. The yelp- a drowning voice
The sky, its tears- our flooded choices.

Death.

Boko Haram

Yusuf picks up the Qu'ran
And adds to Allah's voice his own-
An echo that enthrals the mind
With ideations of blood stained
Cathedrals and Obama crucified-
No books allowed!
Western education must be
Banished from our land
And the death of a few;
A sacrificial necessity for the
Actualisation of inane dreams.
Iblis, the prodigal prince bathes
Daily in the blood of my kinsmen
Mouth agape tasting, tongue squirming
Joying in the soul-deserted carrions.
The Lord does not supply our needs,
The politicians do.
Thanatos sits in Aso Rock, pot-bellied
From an unending supply
Of roasted meat...
              ...*cough*...human meat.

Jihad is over but they don't know;
All our virgins are defiled.

After the rain

After the rain
The sun is relieved
She can see the earth again
The mist, the clouds that veiled
Her eyes have been peeled
By heaven's hands
After the rain
The sun is bereaved
She has lost her potent charm
The earth is wet, flooded
And drunk unable to dance
To Apollo's song.

Three Stones

Three stones arranged
In Abrahamic fashion
Àro méta kìí dobè nù
The Triune God walks
Through the primordial soup,
Stirring as He moves.
Throat cleared, brows raised,
Hand to chin, the Word came He
"Let there be Light"...
          And so began the end
          Of man.
Three stones arranged
In Abrahamic fashion-
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
All warring for supremacy.

But
          "until ye become as children,
           Ye cannot enter the kingdom
           Of God"

Desires

Lovers in the moonlight
Whisper their desires
One to another.
The eavedropping Night
Whispers to Hypnos
The desires of the moonlit lovers.

"And the Lord God caused
The man to fall
Into a deep sleep"-

Hypnos and Pasithea
Have touched our eyes,
I can see the Moon no more-
Fall my love into my arms
As our wantings come to life.

Aeonian love

What Cupid did was to dip
His arrow
In venom
Before shooting at us-

We were an experiment
Of the gods-

Heartless, thoughtless yobs
They are, (the gods)
Ending our love before
It began

Rest in peace my dainty pearl
Our love will cease not even in death
Our breath may cease on earthly spheres
But our love, it is, of celestial birth.

Nigeria of my dream

I
Snow in December, falling,
black as charcoal-
An incendiary suffusion to
Warm our hearts
Clouds of crude oil sagging
Sagging overhead threaten
To douse 240 tribes
In the flood of the oil boom.
The gods have possessed
Our children and have made
Them warriors in an unholy war
Being fought in the North
Beside the sun.
Mother, there's a crack in the foundation
stone buried by Lugard in 1914
Without our consent.

II
My child is a hundred-year-old
Teenager that throws tantrums
Whenever I peal the bells
Of democracy.
My mother's tongue (over 240
Of them) has ceased to speak
Ever since the angels from Britan
Taught us the language of God;
English.
River Niger...River Benue...
Baptise us...baptise our land
From the sins of generators.

III
The groundnut pyramids will
Be erected once more
And the rail will bear all trains
Nigeria, our father Adam told us
to till the land-
Cocoa, Oil palm, Sugarcane
And Plantain plantations.
The giant of Africa must learn
The ways of the dwarves
For long ago, they were once
Dwarves.

IV
...and in my vision
I saw a land flowing with
Milk and honey
Whose lands were carpeted
With manna
But the men were too lazy to pick
The manna on land that grew
Like grass
And they were to lazy to drink
The honey that flowed in streams
Of milk.

I see a country, a fairly big country
Somewhere in the tropics
Heavy with child
Mother will surely birth the Messiah
That will teach us how to farm.

Some things are hard...

Some things are hard
To explain-
Like the concept of Trinity
And how the coconut
Got its water

But our love, our love is simpler
That the simplest of things-
We are simply two creatures
Holding hands in the darkness
Of the sun.

Chess

You should know though
That love to me
Is like a game of chess
Where the knights
Hide behind the pawns
And have no princess to save.

Forgive my simplicity.

But do you know that
In chess
The pawns, the least powerful
In the kingdom
Are the bravest ones who
Choose to willfully die
For a queen who they're madly
In love with?
(They're not dying for the king)

I am a pawn, love, I am a pawn.
When does the war begin?

I'll love you still...

Even if the magician, Time
Slowly deflates your breasts
Like party baloons
And your face wrinkles
Like paper,
I'll love you still...

Airplane

You who fly without flapping
Your wings; tell me
How do you do it?

How do you fly above
The eagle? Tell me,
Why do you eat the humans
Only to vomit them?
Did your mother not tell you
Not to play with your food?

The birds have banished you,
They say you use sorcery
To fly, they are angry because
The humans do not hunt your type.
I dont blame them. I blame you
I blame you
For playing with your food.

For you would have been made king of the avians
If only you swallowed the humans

If only you swallowed the humans
Without spitting them
                                    (Like Jonah).

The stain on her wedding gown

The stain on her wedding gown
Is from the blood
Of her unborn twins-

A big rock.
Two little eggs.

                                  Smash!

The stain on her wedding gown
Is from the blood
Of her unborn twins-

Whose skulls were crushed
In their unborn sleep.

Rib cage

Unlock my ribcage,
Unplug my heart.

Lock my ribcage,
Without my heart.

Now touch my ribcage
Can you feel that,

Can you feel my soul
Beating for you...?

Angel

She's proof that angels
Still walk among
us...

Anointing Oil

I am marked by
The anointing oil-
My head, my hands
My Feet, my chest
Are all smeared
With oil.
Surely the devils
must have smelt
With their noses spiritual
The fragrance of the olive oil.
Surely the devils
Will not touch me,
Or will they?
Will they dare lay a finger on me...

...despite the anointing?

My bride

A voice crying out
In the wilderness-
Ululating the divorce
Of Zeus and his wives
(And concubines).
How could the butterfly
Refuse the nectar, or
The housefly, the pyre?
Whose hands have assundered
That which Jehovah
Has sewn together?
Who shall settle our case?

My love, our love; its acerbity
Has numbed my heart.
And I will not kiss the bride;
The bride is not my bride-

She belongs to my past.
The hebetude of the prize
Wale says, put our future
To sleep.

The things I have seen

These are the things
I have seen-
A bull running on water
A lizard flying like a bird
A bird crawling like a lizard
A snake swallowing a tree
A tree with forked tongue
A dog that meows
A cat that barks
A hen that eats her young
A cock mating with an eagle
And a parrot that prophesies.

I am blind.

Enthronement

I am lonely eating
The hearts of my predecessors.
I have eaten the ghosts
Of my fathers
And have flushed them
Down the drain-
Who will guide my path aright?
Who will hold my heart at Night?
I see my little white child
Playing jocund in the angry red mud-
That little boy will eat me soon
That little boy will eat my heart
And will sit
On the throne
With his fathers.

Alone.

Life Cycle

Every stump was a tree
Every tree was a stump
Every man was a child
Every child will be a man
Every thorn is a gift
Every gift is a thorn

I am a thorn
In the flesh of eternity.
Pull me out.

Epitaph

She had the temerity
To dance naked
In front of tigers
Arousing the gods
Between their thighs-

Here lies the woman
Who danced unclad...

...In our streets.

Abortion

Kill the president
Before his birth, and
His vice too.

Sentence them to death
For our offences-
        Poke them quickly
With a pair of scissors...

...and watch the future
Drip down your legs.

Robbery

Dear neighbour,
I am a Samaritan thief.

Language

Language is a spirit
That sits on our tongues
And dances to the rhythm
Of our lungs.

Cut off my tongue,
Exhume my lungs

And i will speak
The language of gods.

Core

Peel the Light a little further
Like a banana, and
You will find Darkness
At its core-
Glowing
                 like a young star.

Peel the Darkness a little further
Like a tangerine, and

You will find me.

Rainstorm

The clouds spill their guts
On my farm, and the palm tree
Bows to the gods.

Drunk Driving

Uncork the bottle
Sip a little,
Drive the car-

Drive your children
To their deaths.

Fear

The scratch in my throat;
A leafless tree in a forest
Covered in the ash of its leaves.

Grandmother's ghost

Seated on grandmother's grave;
She tapped my shoulder
And ran away-

Footprints in the sand.

Amari-no-kokoro

Basho's dreams; the spirit
In the book leaps at your soul-
Amari-no-kokoro.

Poverty

The lint on my clothes
Stand erect like soldiers
At the battlefront.

Crush

The girl in the black
Dress, drags my eyes with her
Everywhere she goes.

Accident

The car vomits blood
The driver is not breathing;
Neither are we.

Desire

The little girl looks in the
Mirror, she see her mother's face-
She wants the body too.

Sunrise

The morning dew sleeps
On my porch; the sun steals
It from me.

Swallow

I have swallowed a
Snake whole, now my tongue
Will kill my wife.

Bats

A tree full of bats-
"Demons are napping;
do not disturb".

Trap

The rat looks me in
The eye; its leg is caught in the
Trap; I look away.

Omelette

The moon will soon
Crack like an egg, and
The yolk will fall
To earth-

A huge omelette
Will I make
For my children!

Horror

She is a pleasant nightmare-
An horror from which
I never will wake.

Chimera

I am a scorpion
With the legs of a lion
And the head of a man

I neigh like an horse, and
Run like a snail.

You cannot outrun me.
(I leave the wise
To decode the message)

Evening Wind

The evening wind blows-
The trees wave at me; they have
No hands.

Dinner

The family eats together
In silence;
Father's chair is empty.

Cow

The cow eats the grass-
Its tail wriggles, wriggles
Like a beheaded snake.

Graveyard Silence

The graveyard silence-
Drop a pin and
Wake the dead.

River

I threw a stone
Into the river
And watched it swim afloat

I threw myself
Into the river-

I am not a stone.

Mango

The sun, the sun
Is a very ripe mango
And the Lord will take a bite

Mountains will melt,
Oceans will flee, the
Day my Lord decides to eat.

El Suelo

El suelo, you swallowed my father's father
El suelo, you swallowed even his mother,
El suelo, why are you hungry?
El suelo, tell me your wish.
You who eats everything that walks;
El suelo, the insatiable god.
Eat me not, El suelo, and my children
For our flesh tastes like bile (El suelo)
And our blood smells like urine.
If you hear me not (El suelo),
I will go to Jesus,
For I heard (El suelo)
He constipated you
For three days
Till you spat Him out.

Fan

The fan slices the air
Swiftly; butchering it faster
Than it can scream.

Solomon

Solomon; a man of many wives
Weeps
            Weeps
For the loss of his kingdom.
He sits moonward
At midnight's peak-
Praying to Baal, Amdusias
Haagenti-

The sage king
Is a fool
Swimming opposite destiny's currents

Accept your end,
Love your demise
And you will live forevermore.

Without her love

Listen to the silence of
Your heartbeat,

                            For you are but
A breathing corpse

Without her love.

Nociceptive

Her nociceptive lips
Have left me
Craving more.

The weather is grey

There are cobwebs in my mind
And they tingle all the time,
Soiled my mind like sod it lies
Wrapped in thoughts that never die.

Untouched for years my mind it is,
Rolling in mire like hogs that bleat
The weather is grey
The emotions are pale
The mind it seeks for something unborn.

Daggers are raining from the sky
Zeus has forked my heart with lightening
I can feel, can feel no more
The warmth of love that crazed me past.

Voices

There are voices that speak
To me daily
Monitoring daily
All i do daily.

Tell Mother I can't,
For she will take me to the priest
And the priest will kill
My friends-

I will tell no one of this
Not even the eyes that read this

Dear reader,
In three seconds, you will forget
You will forget you read this piece.

Love me

Mi amor
Sleep soundly on my chest
Like a newborn
And coil round me
Like a snake
Tightly

For the night is young
And our hearts they want

To merge into one.

Mi amor
Wake up...Wake up...

And love me.

Forgetting

And so your memories; they slip
Off your mind like wet soap
Leaving you to writhe in
The pain of forgetting
Of forgetting
Who and what means the world
To you-

You are left alone in your skull
Banging on the sutures, looking
For an escape out of the blackness
There is no escape...

...And even that; you forget.

The Illness

Slowly I fade away
Like a fragrance that once was-

...And my mind moults speedily
Shedding off all that I am

Soon i won't recognise my mother
Or remember my nursery rhymes
Then the end when it comes
Will come by my hand

Och! The illness bores deep in my mind
And the cracks are bleeding
With thoughts.

My love

My love, your eyes twitch
When you lie, I
Know this 'cause you are mine.
My love, you just told me
You love me, but
Your eyes, they twitched
My love, your eyes twitch
When you lie, my love

Are you a lie?

I see the Moon

The moon smiles at my children
In the midday sun.
My children, they can't see
The moon because of the sun
But i do. I see the moon
Seated beside the midday sun.
Who else can see what I see
But the dead?

Who else can see the moon
Seated beside the midday sun?

My Children

My children, I see them jocund
Singing under the influence of the moon spirit
They sit around in circles with the moon
At the centre
Singing under the influence of the moon spirit.
I am an elder god; I shouldn't be jealous
But I am. I am jealous of the moon spirit
For it possesses my children in ways
That I can't. My children,
They should sing praises of my fathers.

My children, sing praises of my fathers
And maybe one day, they will appear
In the sky (like the moon).

Butterfly

The wind plays a rhythm
Unknown,

                               Yet,
The butterfly dances.

Beautiful Demise

She spoke eloquently,
With a lying tongue
Pulling me into a vortex
That ripped my soul out my chest.

And yes...
I knew all along...
I knew.
But who would decline such
Beautiful demise?
To die a death
In the hands of their beloved?

Teardrops of an Angel

And as the angel wept
I felt hell burn in my chest...
For her teardrops scorched my palms
Every time i tried to wipe 'em...

I had made my lover cry
And heaven has whipped me
With guilt-

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned-
I have made your angel cry.

Complete

She smiled...
I tried smiling back
But i couldn't. My face,
It was frozen in that moment
And i felt my lungs empty themselves
Of air-
I can't breathe...
I can't...
I...

She smiled...
And in that moment
I felt complete.