Long Criers Poems

A Stolen Memory
A Mirthful Chorus
By Sy Roth 


We surrounded him 
Asked to let go.
She stared at the misshapen face,
Unshaven sandpapery skin 
Eyelids a tabula rasa
Fluttery sere skin
And we could see the humor blossoming in his...

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digital, it was real

Whenever I went online, 
I felt happiness down my spine.

Profile picture and name was fake and stuff, 
first they started accusing me for it rightfully, but they must've taken too much of...

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Exracted from Gerald Nforche's Epic, The Slave's Tale


-Duala, RIOS DOS CAMEROES, 1787-

One fine morning, when love birds flew and sang 
And the valleys with every gaiety rang,
The sun just setting from a misty east
We had...

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And the thunders thundered and the rains rained,
the waves crashed upon the shores,
and the winds could not blow the Dragon to the heavens, 
and the seasons marched on.

And the people became afraid to enjoy the...

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A moment of silence.
Join me, O mother earth
As I whisper a prayer,
For your son's stricken to death.
By the invisible scythe of corona. (Covid-19)

Listen to the tunes 
Of these sorrowful strings
All you far and near.
For the...

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In the silence of a summer night,
when the moon pours its light over the shadows of trees,
Clowns, disguised as poets, rise from the depths of dreams,
Arrogant bureaucrats, with faces of paper,
Pedantic criers, with voices of...

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Winter's crisp yet early breath whispered to me this eve
A yearly session as we, the cold and me, gather
Conferring when, when can I join her, join her as she 
gallops wild and free-

Life has been...

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HAVE YOU HEAR FROM MY FATHER?
Have you hear from my father, okadigbo?
He was among those captured in the oil well
Around the black river of delta in the south.
Days ago they had gone with their hungry...

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She smiles
and considers the crowd,
all backward somersaulting
detached vagabonds, all,
serious soft smalls revealed -
marshmallows imbued
with the glee of writing 
irregular poetry;
works of art thou art,  
thou art, thou art, all indeed -
and what did Dickinson...

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,,I can't just forget"
He sighed
,,I really wish we people forget easily"
,,aha"
,,Yeah, because the consequences the hurt before the one life, we will just forget"
,,And what will it bring?"
,,A new beginning.
You won't get hurted twice"
,,The first...

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he stands amid the dusted rays
of beams from smudged, windowed days
casting light on the words below
pressed flat upon papered page

he's been here since before sun up
stained and smelling of turpentine
surveying the thoughts he's pressed
quickly he...

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TECHNOLOGY……

Technology grows. 
As the day goes.
Though some homes uses the broom.
But mine uses vacuum.

Gone are days of town criers,
Awhile ago, people share flyers.
Now fast and swift.
Can information cross barriers.

Talking of a machine mould,
Compared to a...

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGy!

Technology grows
As the day goes.
Though some homes uses the
broom.
But mine uses vacuum.

Gone are days of town criers,
Awhile ago, people share flyers.
Now fast and swift
Can information cross barriers?

Talking of a machine mould,
Compared to a...

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The king of hades came and rode
And split thousands many throat
From the body of men and women who float
On the blue rhyme-singing water in boat
And the massacre continued into the large city 
Crushing all the...

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Picasso painted me ugly.
Two lips slung over a rusted hanger.
One eyebrow burnt for attention's sake.
Let's tell Grandma how much fun we had today.
Picasso is still at work.

Monet swallowed your stupidity.
Five teeth missing and nary a...

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Dim the lights low and let me dance,
To the memory of you engraved in my brain.
As they lowered you to your palace with a timing,
My whole being, drained.

Mentally, emotionally, physically,
You tore.
Yet you gave everything up...

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They have continued
The naked dance
In the centre 
Of the market square…

Elders and children
Shamefacedly dishevelled 
Have kept the dance 
Of shame
To their chest
Like a golden inheritance…

Sadly we watched
Crying for an end 
To the naked dance…

But nay!...

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Descending eyes piercing the starry nights
Deeper yet, unto hearts of men
Crossing thresholds shattered darkness
Behold, the fallen angels unbeknown to sin

That of weakest appetites malign
As heaven's tears spilling city streets
In futility cleanse what's evil-wise
From beneath, us...

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Life is an array of twists and turns
Nightmares to conquer and dreams to burn

Why must I wait
for the opening of the gate
The world outside is a forest and dark
and the people are it's bark

The lies
Distrust
Denies
To...

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I know not when we shall shake hands again
Or hold in warm embrace for the sheer joy 
Of each sunrise and moonlight
For the plague and news of frightful deaths
In faraway lands 
Have erected monuments of...

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Soiled sinners lecturing on the art of being pristine.
Innocents retreats to black pits and dank seams 
God tucked away the ivory ring and red lantern
very few are rescued from the darkness within.

The good sheep are...

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MOON MORGANS

On a clear night    long about October’s end
When the wind is wailing a dies irae
And your brain    befitting the season    is newly webbed
With la ronde...

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Cities suffocating, left for dead
Under a fire, where jobless smoke drifts
But, goverment grows itself and mingles with
" An American dream" now called myth

Shouting louder and louder
Once were the township criers
About unqualified figure, to those who...

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The Shadow Realm

Life has been light passes slowly within time
Dreams of racing shadows within faint light
Some sound off in sweetest songs so sublime
Others terrorize jubilantly in the late night

Sweet shadows speak of softest love and...

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Majestic shades of green
   rise with spring awakened scallion spikes;
Hunter greens edging into the forest hues
   blended in jaded moss clusters pacing;
shamrock stepping stones low upon the grass,
   amidst...

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