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Akunna Olomi Poem
Like the days of invasive explorers, your plight commenced
You went explosive with yields of unrestrained wealth
Dishing out involuntarily, streams of the inflammable oil and gas
From your natural reservoir, they flowed relentlessly
Filling the insatiable pockets of merciless exploiters
And saves of ambitious tyrants with abyss of desires
When the rain washed through you into the ocean
It saturated their evaporated poison, to your detriment
It rendered uninhabitable, your courses and earth
To flora and fauna, flourishing for your sustenance
And in squalor, you watched your trove emptied to itching laps
And helplessly, you watched your pride develop wings and flew
Because your sons swam in despair and self-pity
They became agitated, restive and mutinous
In attempt to protect and resuscitate your emptied chest
They sank you further into undeserving disgrace
Even your daughters, in shameful act, they marred your pride
Like a frustrated childless widow, you mourned your future
Behold a new dawn, fresh with dewy hope, Niger Delta
Behold your children - calm, sober and improvising
The land and sea in joint effort are returning your glory
With remorse your exploiters are returning
And in search of your face for reconciliation and favour
To your sudden elevated height, they flock to pledge allegiance
Weep no more, treasure trove of a giant -giant of Africa
Weep no more, splendour of a jewel - jewel of Africa
Weep no more, Niger Delta!
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
When I am depressed
I float in self-pity
I roam in fantasy
I bask in solitude
When I am depressed
Thought of God bores me
Thought of family irritates me
Thought of life bores me
When I am depressed
Doctors question than test
Doctors suggest than prescribe
Doctors philosophize than treat
When I am depressed
Self-confidence eludes me
Self-worth evades me
Self-criticism controls me
When I am depressed
I loathe your presence
I detest your concern
I NEED YOUR LOVE
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
In the jungle of our collective heritage
In our wild teaming with endless species of flora and fauna
In the savannah, the tropics and the deserts of our kingdom
There is place for neither the honest nor the peace-loving
I am not adding to adages, I am talking reality
I am talking about the principle of virtue
And of the practicality of vice
I am talking about the cat family of our jungle life
That is celebrated for disrupting our conscientous existence
They are deemed meritorious because we are miserable
Because they are admired, our clamours go unheard
We are lowly, we are vulnerable, we are defenseless
We set our table with vegetation, but graze them with trembling
We respect their pathways but they don't respect ours
Under the lush delicacies of our livelihood, they ambush us
By the edge of our collectively-owned flows, they await us
They parade majestically and in showy antics, they stretch and growl
We see their prowess and bravery flaunted, and we cower into shades
They mock our meekness, even our gentleness, they deride
They mistake our peacefulness with cowardice
We are no cowards; we are only not favoured with their strength
We recognize our weakness the way they recognize their strength
And we bow loyally to their wishes and decline their contests
But our every decline provokes and challenges their ego
Our surrender and our protest are alike to them
Our existence is their headache, yet their means of livelihood we are
They will not stop until they have suppressed us into extinction
Unfortunately, when we are gone they shall be gone too
They shall comprehend the truth but very late
That though the cat rules, the jungle shall breathe without it
But without us, there is neither the jungle nor the cat
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
Inanimate as I am
With my blood I irrigate Leaves
And leave indellible
Traces of time and brains
Under the breath of literary colours
Breathless though I am
To abstracts, I give soul
I have trod horror paths
I have witnessed the ugly boast of crime
In heights and in depths
I have seen the reality of fiction
And the strength of imagination, I have felt
Entreat me and trail the trace of my life-blood
And let me in black and white enlighten you
Let me in bold print, thrill you
Of romance - the fondliest
Of chest - the deadliest
Of whisper, of truth, of love, of nothingness
But something the pen-man told me!
To be bold, firm, yet tactful
Although, he it is that compels me
To provocations and incitements
Although he, never I, that is acquitted
Of libel, of sedition, of insurrection
As he is the revered and the vaunted
Hence, of the laws I give soul to
I am immune to, because
Inanimate I am
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
The showers of rain and dew
Evokes refreshing memories of you
The glow of sun and moon
Sparks up the remote fondness of you
But when it pours and shines
I am deep-seated with the thought of us
And a night of dew and moonlight
Beseech your presence longingly
In you meets my day and night.
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
When the masters came breathing superiority
We became curious servants
They ruled us, they exploited us, they planted us
We cried, we laughed
They humiliated us, they enlightened us
We moan, we learn
And when they left because we clamoured
We celebrated freedom
Suddenly appear the masters again
But from among us
They redefine freedom in their context
And we hate freedom
They console us in harsher terms
And we become inconsolable
They exploit us until they extricate us
We mourn, we endure
They promise us the heavens, but in our dream
We see it fulfil
The dividends of our treasure they apportion to us
And in our grave, we recieve them
They offer us their acquired knowledge
But we clamour for transparency
They teach us the song of independence
On our lips they turn dirge
They speak the language of Democracy
And we discern Oligarchy
They teach us the principle of Federation
But the totalitarian version
If our former masters had not gone
We might have been taught better
We might have known better
We might have fared better
But with the return of our superfine masters
We are less than servants
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
On our green-patched globe, life is blue
Amidst gardens of greenery, our life breathes blue
Up the roof of our floating home, the ceiling is blue
Thus on a cloudless sunny day the colour of sky-blue
Sailing the dominant pools of our home, we meet the blue
Narrowing life in its limitless voyage, the sea glows blue
In the reflection of the roof in the pool, collides the blue
Rolling the love boats as the honeymooners go blue
In the domain of our interactions, let's paint the eyes blue
In criticism for a successful end, let's have the blues
For our sporty achievements, we deserve the blue
In our unpredictable life, let's see possibilities out of the blue
As blue-blooded we are, decided by our blue-print
Let's enable our unification with blue-tooth
And invest and anchor our best in blue-chips
For the essence of life is rooted in blues
In leisure and pleasure, we shall bask in blues
We shall celebrate life with bouquets with touches of blue
And delight our humour in wings with stripes of blue
Thus, in the green-decked globe, Life is blue
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
The procession crawls off hesitantly
On willing shoulders, the casket floats
Wooden and heavy on hefty shoulders
In his train, in dirgy whispers
The countless mourners trudge along
Behind my love's eternal hide-away
Just then I saw her amidst the straddlers
Unaffected and with no wreath for his tomb
Suddenly, the re-occuring echoes again
The echoes of the sobbering past
Wading through the water, I could see him again
Swimming against the tide towards her
The perishing, wherever she came from
Gasping for breath and wallowing for help
She is not to be blamed, I am
I shouldn't ve left his side while he snored
Lost in visionless rest and quietude
He wouldn't have gone impulsively for her
Mistaking her for me, his heart beat
My heart pounded guiltily and mercilessly
As he went and never came back
She came and his remains came too
The redeemer and the redeemed, they made news
He became the drowned and she, the heroine
How unfair life is between longing hearts
How unfair she acts between us - the wombs
Yes, there she is again amidst the straddlers
Chattering noisily, unlike the funereal atmophere
Beaming remorselessly against the encompassing mood
Although the celebrated waste, he is my hero
The redeemer, and not the redeemed is the icon
He may have saved another, for me, he died
I must tell the ingrate, I am most grateful
Because for my life, he wasted his life
He saved her but for me, he gave his life
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
Shivers, your stares send through me
The implication, I have no clues
Could be shivers of longings of thee
Craving for your soft-spots with dues
Like I'm distant, you stare with remote attention
On ablaze, my breast pounds with uneasiness
And with anxious care, I miss the true emotion
Shrinking from your disapproval, I smile with faithfulness
Your stares, whether for passion or enticement
With blushes they leave me restlessly uneasy
Even with purpose of reprove and chastisement
With blushes, they render me awfully dizzy
My pleas to you, my staring admirer, I present
To confess with sincerity, the desire of your remote part
And to stare no more your thoughts; but consent
To the rhythm and craving of your love-sick heart
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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Akunna Olomi Poem
The procession crawls off hesitantly
On willing shoulders, the casket floats
Wooden and heavy on hefty shoulders
In his train, in dirgy whispers
The countless mourners trudge along
Behind my love's eternal hide-away
Just then I saw her amidst the straddlers
Unaffected and with no wreath for his tomb
Suddenly, the re-occuring echoes again
The echoes of the sobbering past
Wading through the water, I could see him again
Swimming against the tide towards her
The perishing, wherever she came from
Gasping for breath and wallowing for help
She is not to be blamed, I am
I shouldn't ve left his side while he snored
Lost in visionless rest and quietude
He wouldn't have gone impulsively for her
Mistaking her for me, his heart beat
My heart pounded guiltily and mercilessly
As he went and never came back
She came and his remains came too
The redeemer and the redeemed, they made news
He became the drowned and she, the heroine
How unfair life is between longing hearts
How unfair she acts between us - the wombs
Yes, there she is again amidst the straddlers
Chattering noisily, unlike the funereal atmophere
Beaming remorselessly against the encompassing mood
Although the celebrated waste, he is my hero
The redeemer, and not the redeemed is the icon
He may have saved another, for me, he died
I must tell the ingrate, I am most grateful
Because for my life, he wasted his life
He saved her but for me, he gave his life
Copyright © Akunna Olomi | Year Posted 2010
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