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Best Poems Written by Olusanya Daniel

Below are the all-time best Olusanya Daniel poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Olusanya Daniel Poem

Ajoke

Ajoke
  ...... to my Ajoke,  to your ajoke
 
It was at oja ale I first saw you
Your smile that day ajoke 
Robbed me of my timidity
And I forgot of my reticence 

When I saw you at the river
And caught how she made your face wet
Until I saw your tender legs leave the stream
I thought you were Yeye's first dughter

In the rain yesterday 
I envied the little rain drops
As they ran happily from your shuku 
Down To your heavenly  bosom

There's something about you ajoke
Something special about you omo asake
Not too delicate for a queen
Yet not too daring for a princess 

Your feet ajoke
They're not too tender to dance the bata dance
Not too firm to kneel to the grey 
Agile enough to make the eyins bleed sweet oil

Come to my home ajoke
Come n teach my pots how to make good soup
Let me taste our love
From those morsels of affection

Come and make my home 
And teach our daughters how to make efo riro
Come and build our family 
And teach our sons how to prostrate 

Let's go to odo oba
And let her envy our flowing love
Follow me to the igbo ode
And let's tell the iroko of our evergreen romance

And when we're tired ajoke
And my eyes too weak to see your wrinkled face
When our grandkids play hide n seek in our ode
I'd be holding your hand

Oja ale- night market;  Yeye- goddess of river; shuku: a style of hair plaiting by Yoruba women ;  bata: a type of dance in Yoruba culture ;  eyin: palm kernel ;  efo riro: vegetable soup ;  odo oba: Oba(a queen in Yoruba myths) river ;  Igbo Ode : thick forest ;  Iroko : evergreen tree in the tropical regions ;  Ode: interior of huts

Details | Olusanya Daniel Poem

The Man Behind the Mask

This is for the guy who thinks he's too imperfect,  for that girl who thinks she's not amazing enough...... You are stunning! 


I had a mask
Carefully carved for me by fear
I heard he got the best smiths for this task
Nothing else got much of my care

Never had I seen such a beauty
At first, it worked so much magic
Every guy wanted to be my buddy
Even the prettiest girls wanted something romantic

It started from my friends
They said the stone mask looked better
Siblings complained the jaw didn't have enough bend
Some even said the best masks were of terracotta 

So I bought every type I could find
Clay,wood, brass, steel... I had all
Like the arid sand obeys the most trivial wind
I succumbed to every call

Just while deep in thought
I realised how much of Fear's client I was
Too ashamed of the man behind the mask
That I tried to hide him from the world

I couldn't even recall the man
It had been long I checked him in the mirror
If he was still a boy or now a man
If he was still dark or now fairer

So in the middle of the night
I burnt the masks
To bring this man to Limelight
Like twilights in dusks

Details | Olusanya Daniel Poem

Shakara

Shoulders enthusiastic like they would make three
Ige's curved spine reminds me of branches of our fruitless palm tree
He even says his biceps can bring a thousand down
Yet he got defaced by the village's clown

As Chief Jaiyeola rolls his agbada like it's an order not to flout
The balls of snag flows down his face pronounce bout
He claims his new bracelet is a nouveau designer
And yet he has bills stacked on the counter

Abike spins her waist like it's a ball
Her mask she said will make men fall
Her lopsided gait makes me wanna flex the muscles of my jaw
But when I recall she married a dwarf, it makes me bawl

Master Onileimo says he is also an expert in sculpture
My little niece said she saw him learning how to design structures
He even tried to repair the transformer in the town's entrance
And yet none of his students passed the common entrance 

Only if Chief Jaiyeola knew the wonder in modesty
And Abike was a bit gentle with her snobbery
Master wouldn't be a failure with the understanding
That shakara oloje ni

Details | Olusanya Daniel Poem

Apollo's Pen

I had always loved that cloth called smile
So pure n immaculate on a newborn
It didn't make a slave a slave
All I wanted was to sew for others

What if my breath could birth good melody?
And my lungs could air euphonious octaves?
I'd really pleasure making Nightingales timid
And to beguile mortals with my dauntless vocal cords

I could be more deep with my expression
Set my mind free n paint it for the world
Colour my universe with my passion
All I wanted was to bring me to cosmos

Only if my feet were not this strict
And my waist n loins were a bit lax
I'd gladly obey the drum's call
And make these knees talk

But Apollo gave me his pen
And my ink never dried up
Perhaps hope didn't go to oblivion
All he wanted was a dinner with me

I could make my heart sing
And make mortals' minds canvas 
So I could make the slave walk on air
And my mind could dance to poetry's beat
All with this pen

Eminent

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Bitter

Bitter
   ...... for the chibok girls


She's always loved the girl in the mirror
She had the perfect kanuri tone
Although she didn't have the impeccable looks of a damsel
She was a girl

She knew Alhaji Musa
Mother said he would pay lots of gold for her ra'aki
Although he wasn't her Prince charming
But he was better than this filthy men

She's always had a thing for school
She loved the men in white coat
Perhaps the wig would fit her too 
But all she can do is fantasize

She's always made father smile
And she had the key to mother's jaw
People said she was sanguine
But it's been long she talked to anyone

She left home a girl 
But her breasts have fed two infants
Now she's heavy again
She just prays it's not a girl