On a sunny afternoon in my country...
With the hope of receiving alert for the new minimum wage in my dreams
I decided to sleep knowing it was a sunny afternoon
Everything was hot and could not have been made cool no matter how many consumed ice creams
NEPA people even after privatization have refused to bring constant power supply
And so, I was left to swim in my salty sweat
You can imagine such a punishment for a young man trying to survive in a very hard economy of no sure employment opportunities
Except you know a person that knows a person wey sabi another person for that place
Like that was not enough within that space
Decided to take a stroll down the street
Just to get some sachets of sweet
Unfortunately the owner was just opening
And had to wait a whooping ten or more minutes for her to open her shop. Why?
There were more than eight solid padlocks to be unlocked for her shop to be opened in a country where all the security forces recruit on yearly basis
The afternoon was short but the experiences lasted longer than the roads being constructed in my lovely country
Just me satirically reflecting on a sunny afternoon in my country.
©ABSOL
Categories:
privatization, africa, community,
Form: Political Verse
Whistlestop
There used to be a train station here it was busy
and many came from the village to see who was leaving or arriving
that was ok; it is nice to wave goodbye or
welcoming a relative that has been away too long and might have
picked up big city manners.
Then the ghost of privatization came, and the line was closed, but
there is a bus arriving twice a day, but lack romance
bus travel is so common everybody facing one way and no stretching
and pacing in the hall.
The train station was sold off as a dwelling and the terminal a garden
where, as we speak, a tourist was told to leave
he was pacing waiting for the last train to take him home and to
the airport; he had waited for twenty years.
Not that the wife of the house minded, she was a good hearted woman,
as long as he stood still he kept birds away and she
didn`t have to take him in when it rained he had an umbrella and was
happy when she bought him leftovers – she didn`t like dogs-.
Then a twilight day it happened a train stopped the tourist boarded,
a whistle-stop you might say, the train never came back.
Categories:
privatization, absence, adventure, allah, anger,
Form: Blank verse
Slow Progress (a long sonnet)
In the last seventy years, little have changed
of technical innovation. we had radio, then
TV and now computers, all in natural sequence
airplanes still fly as before a bit bigger and
faster but the principle is the same.
And for cars they have not changed their appearance
for the last seventy years, except for cosmetic
more colour and easier steering , yet they
still break down at regular intervals.
Politics and money mingle as before corruption
thrives and we the people pay the price.
Privatization is the latest buzz word, but we have
been there before and we ended up with poverty
so bad, the state had to socialise the health service.
Forgive me the news that man has reached the moon
do not impress as much as man has found fraternity
which has been languishing in a basement in Lyon
Categories:
privatization, cheer up, chocolate, class,
Form: Sonnet
Nigeria of my
dreams,
Where the giants are
challenged by the
dwarfs
And the flowers
shall be given
freedom.
Dreams of the
toddlers shall not
be shattered away.
Each day will never
sweat our bodies dry
and
Flies will never
cling on our back.
The sun fierce and
scorching, shall be
warm,
There shall be no
more burning of the
heat of the day.
No more the dread of
the hungry wolves
But only stories of
valour on a fruitful
land.
There shall be
constant light, good
roads, pipe borne
water.
And the pretenders
shall express love
to their humble
land.
Advance fee
fraudsters shall
repent,
Hunger shall never
dwell in the street.
Nigeria of my
dreams,
Where Hopes shall be
seen in the mirrors
smiling.dead
educational sectors
resurrected.
O,when look at the
leadership of
Nigeria,
All i can see is
leaders that are
hungry for power,
Eager to kill to
retain power,
Epileptic And
constant
Privatization of
energy and hoodlums
of salvaging our
oil.
They shall be no
more.
Categories:
privatization, africa,
Form: Narrative
Feel the privatization in its might
A bullet in the African soul-
The sectors sold
The branches squared.
Our pride dwindles
When our Africa is slowly auctioned
To forces of stealth
Ruiners of our democracy.
Our masters slowly gather the spilled milk
Stride by stride
Grinning at the auction table
Their eyes glued on the politician’s billboard:
AFRICA FOR SALE.
Categories:
privatization, africa, betrayal, political, pollution,
Form: Elegy
Feel the privatization in its might
A bullet in the African soul-
The sectors sold
The branches squared.
Our pride dwindles
When our Africa is slowly auctioned
To forces of stealth
Ruiners of our democracy.
Our masters slowly gather the spilled milk
Stride by stride
Grinning at the auction table
Their eyes glued on the politician’s billboard:
AFRICA FOR SALE.
Categories:
privatization, africa, betrayal, political, pollution,
Form: Elegy
The Privatization of Terror
In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq bombs explodes,
drones fall killing the innocent. People who live
under this tyranny of terror, bury their dead and go
on living, as they must… terror will not bow them.
And now violence came to Boston (USA) that got
a worldwide coverage a market town in Pakistan
never gets. Privatized terror never pays, it kills and
wounds, but people will not submit to horror and
the endeavour of the criminals is in vain and deserve
nothing but utter contempt; whoever they are and
whatever their political object, aggression is terror,
pre empty strikes against population ( in Boston this
time) is a crime against humanity.
Categories:
privatization, change, freedom, people,
Form: Blank verse
The world order has finally arrived
Australia probably the last bastion,
workplace reform to taint the purity of decency
indelible profits gouged out of misery
under the pretence of corporate ideals.
More wars to be fought
more senators to be bought,
when greed disguised by competition
leads to privatization of all that stood
for the common good and welfare,
and the populous become subjects of the
‘Lowest common denominator’.
© Harry J Horsman 2012
Categories:
privatization, political,
Form: Free verse