Long Cassava Poems

Saturday Night Smoke

It is Saturday night, and I have to put up a  terrible fight, 
It is Saturday night, and the people are walking around with much delight, the days are creeping up slowly...

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The wicked is calling the wicked 
wicked
Oh what a wicked
The wicked is calling the wicked
Wicked
Who is really wicked?
The wicked is calling the wicked 
Wicked
Can’t you see that something is wicked?
Wicked man,
 Wicked woman, 
Wicked boy,
...

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Reeds and dry mud walls,
Into whose crevices, weaving needles and knives are fixed.
Iron sheets of rust on top,
(The only modern feature!)
With leakages through which we can even visualize the sun,
Through which rain water and even...

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As I was in national park virunga
 and I saw a zebra 
which was giving birth and
one black and white cobra 
passed by there.
 I admired their colours 
and took some pictures 
to show my kids...

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I have a destiny,
That most of you look down on,
As being poor and backward.
That many desire to change and have me assimilated,
But I'm surely destined to be African.

When you meet me, I've got more melanin,
And...

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The release of the naked sword of marine oil spills 
From the window and door of offshore platforms drilling rigs,
From the arena of natural oil sips to execute our living meals.

Petroleum hydrocarbon spreading its tentacle...

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Homeward Bound


Land of mango and avocado 
Sweet , mild and refreshing 
Cassava bread with tea, coffee and hot cocoa 

Fresh meaty young coconut 
It’s water crisp and refreshing
 
Glazed peanut, cashew and coconut for a...

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ANCESTORS

Lady Liberty

And the Lady cries:
"Bring me your lame, maime,
Your poor, your Refugees."

Came by the Mayflower
And others like her,
The first Settlers came
from near and far;
Men, women, children,
old and young.

Bellowing sails flapping 
in tempestuous winds,
People courageously sailed,
Getting...

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The Three Islands Sleep!

Sleep, sleep, the islands asleep!
Sleep while the winds blow on her face,
On her trees, and on her mountains and hills,
Sleep when the thieves dressed in suit come in,
Like the befuddled man sleeps...

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De love inna mi heart, it a bubble. It a bubble (3*)
Mi say the love inna mi heart it a bubble. “  “  ”
Mi get beaten from parents
Mi get beaten from strangers
Mi get...

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Dropped anchor off the Fever Coast 
‘board a rake-masted schooner
Spooked by Ahab’s ghost. 
Lamps glowered through the yawning blanks
Casting bone-twisted shadows 
Over teakwood planks.
Salt biscuits and Jamaican rum; 
Heard the deep-throated rattle
Of the talking drum.

Count...

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EGOTISTICAL 

"I love you too much
To fight you 
So I'm setting you free
So you can fly happy 
Never wanted quit
I must admit
That this relationship 
Had an ego trip

The turbulence 
Was too often 
It kept shaking...

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Give it a title!
They say first love is always perfect
Even when you fall flat in the middle of the story
The last is always the dream we all fight to attain
I won't be your dream love
Neither...

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neighbor Maggie hear a noise
 last night outside the window
 she see two man in the yard
 they stealing she ripe mangoes

 so she call the police
 he say we eh have no jeep
 call...

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Conceived and born in the rainforest 
I have traversed the Savanna and the Mangrove
I have trudged through its Swamp 
And dwelt I have in its Woodland	
But I only bear tales of 
The Montane and the...

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Remember when I was small
Never had to worry bout anything
Every morning when I awake
Had breakfast and start playing

Playing cricket and football
Going in the bush for guava
And the garden with my father
Planting dasheen and cassava

But time...

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My master send his greetings to you all,
My master wish to love all but none wish
To love him in return so his tale is fatal.


My master is a drunkard like the drunks,
No wonder his lover...

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Are you traveling to Oron to be lost
In the mysteries and secrets of Ekpe, the Bermuda triangle
lban Isong, a land deeply rooted in the ocean
With queen of the coast, daughters of mermaid
Of the marine race...

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Turn east your eyes, oér the brimming blue of mountains
And see the morning sky serving feast of fervent gold
And through the hills climbing a heart like festive fountains
A man with tattered trousers, shirt stained and...

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Sounds of music
are here, there, everywhere!
in this, in that, in that!
They give rhythm to everything around us;
be it the crack of dawn,
fiery sunny days, 
or mellow  twilights.

I hear the sounds of music
when the cock...

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Lacovia road
Here once the bambo trees
Dance like native girls
In native half-nakednesss
And farmers trudge a way
Not so long nor forbidding now
Along the banks where lizards lazed
A scampering of children
And trees are with sturdier concrete replaced.
The slant...

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__uPON her shoes__

The best I could do 
Is to sit upon her shoes.
The show is still on,
So don't judge me now...move on!

She is still sleeping
And she wants no awakening.
She loves me and wants me idle
And...

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End of The Cassava


Like cassava we planted corruption in the farm
Like mangos we plug corruption from the trees
 Like Ram we rear in the land where it sold
Like pounded yam we pound our yam of...

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Come To Me As A Poem

The days of thunder in the cane fields 
gone...
lightning strikes on the flat, brown flesh of 
earth  rushing through the green breaks 
and out,
leaving the earth chattering.

Come to me...

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Memories of those nights at Ekpoma
Cling on to my dreams like bees to raffia palm
Seeking for food to be produced

The Muse said we left many issues unresolved
While we sat around the well at my abode
Pondering...

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