Sometimes I sit and I ponder.
I ponder about my lacquered erudition.
I ponder about my varnished rectitude.
I ponder about my penning acquiescence.
The insipid tedium of my veins questions my oblivion to a stupor so stark to the glorification of my solitude.
I ponder its adjacent to the extolment of my void.
The seething flame sanctifies the feigning rot of my lungs as I inhale the melancholy of your lips.
Something so soothing.
Something so soaring.
Something so laboriously stinging.
I desire for the salvation of sin;
To tattoo your words on my tongue.
To swallow my decay in your blood.
To fuse your disparity on my webs.
I sit and I ponder.
Am I so inured to the metal of these bars, I distort the culpable intimacy of still yet existing in one?
And thereafter, I ponder whether my silver ashes will ever dare to utter the sinister sacrilege of my syllables.
A wall patched with lies
keeps the cracks from widening
but mementos fall
books, portraits, medals, and gifts—
gravity claims all relics
curtains shroud the crimes
centuries of stifled screams
glass betrays the hush
even the floorboards confess—
house itself is culpable
clothes, ties, hats, combs, wigs—
the trinkets of faded grace
heaped upon the street
flames burn their false finery—
pretense collapses to ash
palaces demolished
cubes enforce obedience
bankers on the run
food scraps sucked from rubbish binds—
can't stop the way of progress
rebellion outlawed
truth is now rule of edict
ugliness is king
screens implode in blinding flash
we gnaw at our own silence
mother will not come
her arms obliterated
father shamed and named
we crawl with pitiful bleats—
orphans of our own making
Come Home
I dislike Israel, but I accepted her as a historic
happening and a place where Jewish culture
can flourish undisturbed by foreign culture, and
thus can sink into navel-gazing.
But it cannot be so Europe without Jews and
the Jews without Europe`s culture is a script
of a disaster not yet written.
We in Europe need the Jews as scientists,
in the arts, but the Arab World does not need
resentful Jews who brought an iron heel to people
for a crime they have not committed but guilt that
lives in the culpable images of Abraham’s people.
I wrote this in 2009 but many things have changed
Can anyone accuse you of pretence?
Are you inflicting pain for pain’s own sake?
So little can be said in your defence –
Unless you have some argument to make,
Apart from spitting venom like a snake.
Less culpable than you are snakes, I swear:
They do their damage, blithely unaware.
You knew precisely when, and where, and whence –
Or if you’d rather, planned the steps to take,
Fomenting consciously this pestilence –
You find my words too grand? You’ve got brain-ache?
Okay, let’s say you knew which bough to shake.
Unmitigated mayhem, deep despair
Results in calm. Today, there’s nothing there.
Considered as a love, it was immense.
Regarded as a person, you’re a fake.
Unusually, passionate, intense?
Exactly. So much bitterer the break.
Love blinded me. The thing was my mistake.
The fault was yours, of course. But, to be fair,
You’re not a psychopath. You just don’t care.
Now you are the quarry
Until then, You were hang up on yourself
You didn't have due regard
Someone has rained on your Parade
Cant handle it
Your eyes have grown tired
have you a safe place to hide ?
Numb days
where are the residual of your friends
dividing the public
was your aim
As the world rises and falls
you were culpable in its mindsight
Now you're the chased
your eyes have grown dim ?
your not welcome as a fool
leave it to laissez faire
You not guilty playing up
culpable in other words
we all rejoin someday
A surrender in other words
Try and be cool
think it over
before you leave
after you understand
Amusing said the Unicorn
whose offspring ran riot
amongst the golden corn fields
In toad stalls fiery hornets roamed
By the wanton pavilion
all hope was gone
a fire crackle sentence serenaded
the dearth of thought culpable
Bramble often permanent
prevaricated by the ha ha
in the vista of no return
casting our thoughts to yesterday
shower shoes sloshing, soapy, slippery,
and teeming with colossal cleanliness,
toweled,
culpable
Said emerald isle im sinking
the weight is culpable
hope and glory all gone
the tent cities array in London,
chewing the remnant of greatness
selling england by the pound
digest the news
the politicians have asundered
their nuances
first failed, they now kick in their equity cards
into the world of tv news
who tease the teasel
in this merry go around
Written for Ink Empress' 'Unwritten Absence' Poetry Contest.
C(ulpa)ble
Your unwritten absence unravelled much
Disrobing piteously your impure intent
Starkly exposing a ravaged soul as such
Cocooned in dark yarns of deceit, I lay spent
In golden gilded cage tarnishing from neglect
Plated with cosmetic veneer for society's consent
Yet, you were oblivious to the storm brewing, most perfect
Bidding the right time to sound its thunderous dissent
NEGLECT, tacitly accepted afore, HENCEFORTH NEVER GOES UNCHECKED!
Multiple people are following a new trend
regarding which I see no sign of an end.
I seek reasons but haven't found any
why people these days avoid saying 'many,'
jnstead of which they prefer to say 'multiple,'
a fault of which I'm personally not culpable.
So let me affirm old usage once more
just as I've done multiple times before.
Oh dear me! What a terrible slip.
Happy are they who have mastered the lip.
Begone Yoke!
Why abusing the brightly future leaders?
Okay, aren't they human, I ask?
Are they culpable, and not mild?
Or why imposing upon their innocence?
And purposes and value to bask?
Whether not belong to this world?
Again, do they not deserve rights?
What? Their divine aspirations to mask?
Once again, can't they be empowered?
© Lukman Nurudeen Adeniyi
You've been reckless
like a marsh fever
You've got the infamy
Did you really need
that Hollywood look
Being with you
makes it hard
Your eyes of blue
are a culpable blame,
You gallivant around
Your furtive dream is over
The Sun is an aside
Solitary you run
scammed by the industry giant
customer service useless
passed from pillar to post
and back again without resolution
they simply did not care and are therefore
culpable of the fraud
maybe someone will benefit
from reading this ‘poem’
no licence required
only disappointment and injustice
I am voting with my wallet
will never use them again
and some of my friends vowed
to shun them as well
15th December 2022
VIDEO: The Old Friends Do by ABBA (LYRICS) YouTube
AUDIO: Listening Version
What Makes Friendship
What makes distance so touchable,
What makes arm wrestling physical,
What makes fun a thing for two,
What makes tears of missing you,
What makes secrets last, insiders,
What makes smiles, to be tear-wipers,
What makes fighting, ugh, forgivable,
What makes forgiving unbearable,
What makes oops somewhat culpable,
What makes cleanup punishable,
What makes laughs, the one-legged wins,
What makes others say, "Not twins?",
What makes saying goodbye really hard,
What makes memories my field of regard.
2022 August 05
*1st Place*
FRIENDSHIP
~~Beata Agustin: Judged 2022 August 08
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