Short Niger Poems

Fox squirrel
Fat, content
Chillin' up there
On your chosen branch.
Neighbor....

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The only source of a State's wealth
Lies in woeful scences
Of penury, Abduction,
Pollution and rebelion....

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niger lost a night's rest
for her children
swept by the flood 
of her furious night
& as she wept amadioha
brought the victims
afloat on the river....

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CAUTION
Excuse me.......
Say to our Hausa fellow
Tread with caution
Niger is but the nest of sundry
The deeds our patriots
Drag not to the mud...

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sing me her songs
her songs amongst the old rocks & mounts
her ancients songs
amid those pages & their kings
when mansa musa was the prince
& sundiata was in preeminence

(to be continued)...

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fast 
throttling 
in a pageantry
of eternal beauty

my little pigeons
perform’ng
a ministry
like some goddesses
of my deep-delv’d niger

come, throttle, dance
like some mbari dancers
smil’ng before this moon
the happy queen
of my clan!...

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she was the soul of the clan
when top trees
served as mere ground
for the monkeys -
she was the soul of the clan
when top trees
served as mere ground
for the squirrels -
& then elders spoke in elders' voices
& the clan stood at rest
with all the earth....

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… & the ma-sters
of arro-glance
blew up faces
of in-dignity
slapping the honesty
out of the national-ism
of the fore-found-sters
of this ni-ger-stands!
& we stood still
still! still like the grave
of the masses of hungry-sters
& angry martyrs of my niger …...

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Bat mine leader.
The crown who face down.
Bat who ought to be chalk,
Change the rank scale.

A bird,
Who knows not his ways.
Yet, lead and nest
In the lion's Deen.

Such is the crown of NIGER-AREA.
Bat decree and amend the rigid.
Thinking is bird but
A dark policy....

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Some Siberian
Or could be Nigerian
Opposite climates.

My Forward Day by Day for Sunday
January 17th mentions Diocese of
Akoko Edo, Bendel, Nigeria. Other
dioceses of Ondo, Aguata, Niger and
Ahoada, Niger Delta are also mentioned.
Jim Horn, Episcopalian and Retired Veteran...

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she smiles
the smiles of niger maidens
dwelling near this small space
the small space 
that becomes the biggest space
beyond this corner 
that encyclest widest
beyond this earth
your earth
our earth -
& she remains the essence
of our world
encroach'd of cata-combs
from other worlds!...

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as Niger becomes 
the fastest African economic 
growth in three months 
of the  new government, 
nigeriens see importance 
of their rise. 
As Niger will be 
the 4th fastest economic 
growth in the World in 2024,
many Africans see
 the importance to destroy
 neo-colonisation....

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Call me what I am!!
Do not call me NI**ER !!
Call WE Niger 
Call We Nigerian 
Call  WE  AFRICAN!!
Call We dirty! Yeah! Right!
Call we mud people.
We came from the earth.
We are dusty. 
We know our worth!
We came first!
WE AFRICA!! RISE!!
WE ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS!!
ANCESTORS  RISE!!...

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near these old outspoken rocks
behind the caves & waterfalls
& mounts that herald old tales
niger lads do their night’s rites
celebrating the age-long fairies
old queens in melodious voices
entoned to these chambers -
a priest appears with oblations
oh, the queen stands & frowns
& comotions rent the heavens!...

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i saw this new moon
just yesterday
beside this flooded hut
the niger has eaten
the homeland
'tis like a casualty
one of the good casualties
the casualties
the big bro saw
during our war
that war that led
to the skeleton-men 
beside this now flooded hut
ah, we lost the hut
to the new fat river
yet 
i saw this lean  moon...

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people look at my skin like im different
but im the same they hit me spit on me
they call me Niger
but deep inside im the same as any one else
i cry pray but god is not answering me
they talk about my clothes
but inside i know the answer that god put me on earth for something
but i know what i am a African American...

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post to her
mother earth
mother of niger lads
her lads are crying
crying & drowning
in running tears 
torrents of torments
when she comes
to this old homestead
earth weeps for earth
mother for lads
lads for mother
our songs arrive
the borders of rivers
earth upon earths
new born souls
age over-night
and
earth weeps for earth...

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She stood languidly under neon light 
Scant -clad bossom shine in erotic glory
Her tresses dance flippantly like reeds of the niger
Rag and ropes hung  carelessly-gorgeously on curvy cliffs
Her recklessly  red lip
Draw lustymen from the possessive warmth of their wary wives
As tiro-ed lashes coquetishly 
Lead them to sheol....

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(for Chris Okigbo)

Brief!
The sparks of her face
Shone like the shiny water –

Decked with an eternal beauty
Of a brief exit
As a star on the earth:

Hidden drums drum her
To dwelling places
Planted in the Niger –

A damsel:
Sparks of guardianship
Is lost at a river-side:

Into the deep palaces
Of the water-maid....

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I've been to Africa;
Chad, and Niger.
To America; Chile.
Which is not much bigger.

I can go anywhere
When I'm asleep.
I write down all my dreams
So my journeys I can keep.

I've been far to Indonesia
And further yet to China.
But when I think of home,
There's nowhere to be finer.


~Written in 2001, when I was twelve~...

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Poor desolate Niger-Delta.
Patriach of pipeline explosions
and oil-spillages.

From tale to a tale
your days shorten,
and your dreams lay asleep
in the cold of shallow graves.

Though i think of you
as destiny`s child,
you neither come nor go away.

In all my grief,
you are the chief;
as one who gives 
all passion away....

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& i see the clouds
smiling beside
my war-fed clan
they come, wearing
some new garments
behind the flood-gates
the forlorn gates
of old niger’s maidens
clean shaven
are the elders
now clean’d of
just yesterday’s beards
elderhood is gone!
siting on mat
aweful are their looks
they see nothing
of this new new moon
coming
to the homeland
oh, niger!...

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close by our trembling river
niger saw her full teeth-clenche’d
that unseen fear-springing genii
the fear of many a nation
she came to whisk her away
her entry, un-nois’d, her steps
un-notic’d - she appears at the
door-post, the river-banks
where a thousand maidens
danced unseen she appears!
mother made the scream -
with her maidens, she’s gone!...

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history & beauty 
speak in the volume 
of your silence, your calmness 
history & beauty 
speak in the volume 
of your sadness, your stillness; 
it is this longing 
to behold my princess 
’tis this striving 
to claim a niger goddess 
that makes excellent 
your mystery & sign of history 
that makes eloquent 
your native & inborn story....

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hail!
he, who sail’d
thro’ those long nights
in the hobs of
niger’s hidden chambers 
amongst those weird shades
of the niger;
hail!
he, who came in
with those trophies
from the living-dead
those trophies
of my ancestors
the ancestors of my red earth
the red earth of my forest
the forest of my drum
the drum of my clan
the clan of my birth –
hail!
to the eyes of the forest...

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