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Best Poems Written by Joshua Popoola

Below are the all-time best Joshua Popoola poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

The Box of Death

The long wooden box 
Was gently set down 
As dirt was packed from the earth 
To fill up the earth 

Black coats and umbrellas 
Huddled together under the rain 
Watched on in silence
Not a word to be uttered 

I, in their midst 
Looked up but couldn't see
Clenching my fist 
I knew I had to stay strong 

But, a trickle of water 
Found its way out of my eyes 
And rolling gently down my face 
Fell on top of the long wooden box

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Gangan - the Talking Drum

The stream of music 
Has in it an instrument 
Talking beats, not singing,
And sending legs into a frenzy 

The hook of a Demigod 
Knocking the round bald head 
Of the talkative 
As it yelps in pain 

The hook romantically patting 
The head of a voluptuous woman 
Shaped as an hourglass 
To listen to her talk 


Locked in the arms of its betrothed 
Like a gem to be protected,
Its ropes are fondled with 
To produce sweet notes 

Beautiful yet deadly 
For it could pass messages 
Across the halls of Boruya
As Nobles dance to their death.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

The Flood

The atmosphere was hot despite the threatening rain 
The sky had been overtaken by fever
 It cried  aloud in torrents of rain
The wisps of smoke emanating from the dying embers of fire irritated her even the more. 
In anger, the sky took up stones and hurled it towards the sons of men. 
Shelter was sought all about but was none was found. 
The sky roared in a deafening sound, she was unstable. 
Her two children; Sun and Moon 
Gave heed to her cries and switched off their power socket. 
The sons of men prayed to their gods for the appeasal of the sky
 but their prayers did nought but aggravate the sky. 
She was tired of staring down upon the faces of men everyday 
so she fetched a bucket of water and poured it in the earth 
Till it was  almost full.
'Now, I shall see water and not men', she said.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

The Human Nature - War

Swords lay on the floor
As men fell to the dirt
Some, plunged through with spears 
Some, sword impaled

Flies buzzing round gutted intestines
Made a feast of dead ones
Who suffered fatal blows
And had bellies rent open

Babies were snatched from Mothers’ arms
And bisected into equal halves.
With wild grins on savage faces,
Mothers were raped and slaughtered 

The heavens watching on in horror
Witnessed the land become a pool of blood
As lives were harvested 
By lifeless blades

God, sitting on his throne
Set his elbow on his knees 
With his back slightly bent
Regretting every action of creation

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Nigeria My Country

The cries of the generation 

Of a once great nation 

Eradiating to the darkest of hearts 

Cries of woe, cries of pain 

all hear but none care

falling on deafened hearing ears 

The widow's wail in the deep of night 

The sorrowful song of wolves into the starry night 

A country is dead

Bad tidings we bring thee

Lost in the shadows of pessimism 

Rebirth not imminent 

What can we do 

But await the arrival of a Jesus 

to restore a nation to its former glory.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Viva La Viva

V vaunts verbiage vociferously.
Visage viewed very vacuous                            			
Vacillates varyingly,
Venting valentine versus violence

Vast, versatile, variant,
Vehement vituperations volunteered: 
Voices voice virtuously
Voices voice vulgarly

V very veracious,
Versal vortices visualized,
Versal volages visualized,
V’s  valedictory.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Eko Lagos

The streets of Lagos 
Snort odours of variant origins
Whilst watching their breath claw its way 
Into the breathing hole of man 

The feet of Lagos
Speedily catapulting legs forward 
Dance to the howling of cars 
On these burdened streets 

Thrashing and striking chords mercilessly 
The cacophonous orchestra of man and Danfo 
Creates a vortex of peaceful chaos 
On these weary yet wary streets 


With legs dangling in the waters
And sitting on the edge of a phenomenon,
The nature of man it wields 
Half beautiful, half grotesque

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Love's Deception

Love is a trench
In a world of chaos
The deeper the fall
The deeper it leads

Until it becomes a chasm
Inescapable and irretracable 
Leaving those who wandered thus far
The reward of recklessness

Love is light
But the shadow it casts
Irrepressible and looming
Warns of foreboding doom

For in the beginning
Before the birth of light
There was darkness
And darkness has been

Love is a claw
That tickles the skin
Before it packs a pound
And stains the dance floor with its colour.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Insecurities

Beach glasses and hourglass
One of those classic ones
One step I take towards you
Two steps backward

Sun rays blinded you from me
Or me from you
Thoughts clouded my vision
Maybe a skin too nightly

Bloody insecurities mutilating 
This poor soul of mine
As it writhes in hunger
Desperate to be noticed

A poem I wrote
And walked boldly up to you
Fall you did
As my words were read

On my bed I lay
A lovely dream, I sigh
Peering through my window,
I see you walk by.

Details | Joshua Popoola Poem

Perspective

A smile on his face
His very pale face
As his body was moved 
And placed in the coffin

A life not so well lived
A drunkard, thief and murderer
Not one bit of tear on faces
As this poor soul left the realm of the living

Mother dead, Father dead
An orphan grew up he
Discriminated and cast away by those around
For they believed he was cursed

Then He began taking up the bottle to forget his troubles
And stealing from those who cast him away
Searching for the killers of his parents
He kindly repaid the favour

St. Peter stands at the gate
Looking at the man, he analysed his past
His death was clamoured for as he was full of sin
But St. Peter smiled and opened the gate that He may go in.