Long Clamour Poems

“Upon Waking”


Slumber has its upsides 
while the outside runs around
like a split fowlyard, 
cacophonous 
pecking at each other 
and at the ground…

Elsewhere, 

like dull background noise
through the fog of dream 
the sound of the gamble...

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Godot has arrived
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Alive and well thanks!

...said the haiku poster
Crudely pasted to the fence
Who was too busy selling stolen goods
To notice he was a notice
Announcing a brand new play
A fusion of two classics

Waiting for...

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Yet Africa is
expected to fall in
line 
With speed and
alacrity 
Or be headed back to
Europe 
For much deserved
censure
And sanitization in
the heart
Of brutish Europe!
Have we not seen
them in action
At Treblinka and
Auschwitz, brother
With their atomic
bombs in Hiroshima
With their...

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Harry Horsman's treatment was withdrawn over a week ago and they are making him comfortable, he is now in Hospice care.

Susan Ashly…we can only hope that Hospice care can keep Harry comfortable. May comfort be...

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Those rarer men I once fondly 
knew...                            ...

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This is Lagos-
a welcoming address to all dignities
an old sermon preached by three wisemen
no praises or pleasantries at the entrance gate
Come and face your death or life warrant
in a no man's land but everyone's home
The...

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Lion Dancing To A New Year

It is that time of the year, you'll know it by the din reaching your ears...
Thunderous gong beats, clashing cymbals that's all you can hear...

It is a most riotous time...

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Oh I am but a simple leaf
         withering within the gutter
         one summer of bliss
    ...

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BOTTLE DANCE

Across my land, abysses gnaw at automobiles,
From the foot of the mountain, 
To the shores of the oil fountain.
Certificated youths drinking piss to mellow their brains,
Clutching at wheels, dodging bumps into fog lights.
“Stupid, ing...

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2 Terms Of Political Office

A political leader of a country successfully managed to extend his term of office...
Brings up the question of the wisdom of the previous curb imposed to 2 terms in office....
Bolehland has...

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Break the fire  that burns the soul
Never couple the blood unless it is hot,
The scented motion are fire proof in the oceans
Where the weeds are the king of the grasses.
Days of unholy beast of...

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It squeaked as it slowly rolled out the door
Trundled out the rusty gate
Over the sunken wooden bridge 
and onto the sandy sidewalk.
The daily trudge had begun.

Nestled and nurtured within were the lives of her family
And...

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Ah summer when smiles nigh early on trees… 
Take season's kick-start, Karan, smiling first, 
Its bright yellow flowers when sway in breeze, 
And seem to brag: O watch my blossoms burst. 

Lest it be left...

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I am also a prose poet, navigating the realms of expression unencumbered by the shackles of rhyme. In this vast expanse of literary freedom, I find my solace, my sanctuary. My words flow unencumbered, liberated...

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Call me Chinua Achebe from  dead,
Take me home to Wole Soyinka' bosom 
Bundle me to John Clarks at his castle;
They infected me with this madness,
Madness of words that get me focus.


I have been stripped...

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When I spotted Saint George in a van,
I feared that his horse might be lame.
Or worse, in a Doggomeat can,
when hurt in some chivalric game.

Saint George, it appeared was not happy,
now carried around in this...

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A balance of perfection
exquisite the innocent equilibrium
of a newborns open eyes

The separation between a door
the life they always knew
the life they knew before
soul sound that always echoes 
yet still treads upon the earth
a beauty so...

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NOT MY NIGERIA


Not my Nigeria that is dead among them.
Not my Nigeria that is downtrodden,
Not my Nigeria that those helpless children
Are littered here and there like grains.
Not my Nigeria that I saw with a broken
Lips...

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“METROPOLIS BLUES”

The elemental wind
curls in from the north east,
sublime salon creations in
disarray, in grimy profusion
inventiveness subsides.
The town clock strikes out,
within ear shot, a bench seat plays
host to a cast of thousands. 
Soon! succulent rotting form...

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On the Red Carpet and Beyond

They want a red carpet theme for their school leavers' ball. This is my didactic rendering.


Today you are stars and the red carpet is spread
Rolled out for you to, with...

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The Soul-train was leaving the station,
Believers were gathered on board.
Their hands were all reaching for heaven, 
And happily praising the lord.
But someone was left on the platform,
A ticket-stub fell from his hands.
He waved as the...

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The world is shape by the laughter of big children
been brought into the earth ever increasing from start. 
Our parents sew our childhood for us that
we may wear joy when much older and smarter. 
Hunger...

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Tell me again
This wealth you gasp and clamour for
This strategy you wield
From the invincible substratum
Where the hunt pursues the frenzied heart
And the congestive traffic of arteriosclerosis 
For what do you deal
The long evenings swinging on...

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The man must be a fool or an extra prudent who 
 Spreads around teaching that silence is gold 
It has in it the real meaning of the world 
And wise are those who keep...

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When the earth in me scorched with heat, 
leaving it arid and banal.
Long strenuous trail crammed me, 
choking me to death. 
Thrusting the life in me to an impregnable battle -array, 
I lay there in...

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