Frontpage

Gianna (George Floyd's last daughter)
Courtesy: ABC

In case you been under a rock

Thru twenty twenty one,

Welcome to a whole new world

Of the coronavirus,

Of systematic racism reborn,

Of constant outbreak of wars

Shooting IDPs to epic proportions.

A world where climate change

Runs riot on the frontpage

Sending world leaders into a race

Against the spill of nature's rage.

Welcome to a world

Where men invent new uses for slugs

Children are subjects for target practice,

Elementary schools are objects

Of cruel mass shooting.

Welcome the crude Government

Supporting crude rules of engagement.

This is a world

Where gun laws

Acquit the murderous outlaws,

And the war lords

Receive reverence of gods,

Rank of divinity measured

By lives wasted by slugs.

That's the world we live in today.

Where sons of darkness hold sway,

This is that kind of world.

And you ask, 'Where is the love?'

We await a savior,

To come take us

Where we belong.

Could you be the one?

Akpan

Sidiqa's Law Of Success

15 year old Àfghan refugee, Sidiqa
believes failure is a stepping stone.
Courtesy: UNHCR

When things fall apart

Hope will swell in your heart.

Failure comes to upset the status quo

Reach deep into your soul

And picture it as a stepping stone.

That's Sidiqa,

She can't be accused on cynical

But guilty as sin on clinical

In her delivery of practical

Lessons to help you win in critical

Situations to make your life lyrical.

She's just fifteen,

An Afghan refugee

Who broke herself free

From her shackles and ceded

Her back to the wind,

Stung her fear like a bee

Till she gained infectious peace.

She couldn't keep it in,

So she offers to all

A blow by blow gist

Of her liberating freefall

On the wings of love,

When things fell apart.

You can make failing

An art,

Until you are succeeding

As a craft.

You can scoff

At desolations of war,

And rise beyond

The dunes of failure.

And stand forth

From the cage of your dungeon,

Like a world champion.

Akpan

Stick-To-Itness

MLK with his wife, Coretta Scott King
holding down the game.
Courtesy: Ms. Bernice A. King

Can you hold the game down?

Can you drown

The clamor of the crowd?

You think it's as easy

As it sounds?

Or you think you can shake it

Like Sunday morning?

Sons of darkness

Are waxing all sorts of madness.

Tapping their potential

For violence till violence

Becomes an existential

Breathing essence

Of everyday living.

Can you keep believing

To the face of what they're bringing?

Can you be a child of light

That's maxing virtues of the Most High?

That light that shines

And keeps on shining

In the darkness,

And this darkness

Cannot comprehend

Or overcome it.

Can you be true to the end?

Can you stick to it

In the face of unnumbered foes?

Can you multiply the heat,

One hundred fold

Everytime hearts turn cold?

Can you pump the acceleration,

Unleash courage like a mighty stream

When darkness pumps a tide of desolation?

Will you walk in love

When men walk

After gross things

That do not profit?

Akpan

Just Do It

Adam Toledo

Officer, please don't kill me

I got human blood flowing

Like a stream thru my veins.

Ignore the darkness of my skin,

I didn't choose the cosmic paint.

Please don't kill me

I'm a member of humanity

I invoke your empathy

So what I'm out shopping

Late nights, man I ain't a kid

My mama ain't tucking me in.

Kill me in my sleep

Will ya? Like I'm Breonna T.

With bullet counts running up to six.

Please don't kill me

I'll stop in traffic for ya

All I got's my air freshener

And still your bullets penetrate me

Now my son's gon' be raised

By his grandma.

All I am is erased

I'll never again change his diaper.

Please don't kill me

I'm having my birthday party

And ima getting naughty

Not bad for a seven-year old baby.

Please don't kill me

I heard your footfalls chasing,

Your yap is orders spitting,

I'm spent running and turning

I'm reaching for the sky, my hands empty,

You're foul-mouthed n' cussing.

You run up to me and start pumping

Slugs into my body

I am unarmed then falling

Down I'm dying

The design on my shirt saying,

Just Do It.

Akpan

Dang!

Cox Bazaar Refugee Camp ablaze with fire.
Courtesy: UNHCR

Dang

Everything's goin' bang

Events summarized in slangs

Join a gang

Or grow a fang

Or get lost when it clang.

It's a boomerang

So y'all can't hang

Last time it was the thang

Next time it stang

Constant birth pangs

What d'you do about the clan?

Arms like orangutan

Hugs like abominable snowman

So what's the plan

A lean mean fracking stand

Git it on, git it grand

Get a band

Make it tang

Go bang

Com'on, dang!

Akpan

Wasn't Just A Missus

In loving memory of Coretta Scott King, (MLK's wife)
who would have been 94 on April 27.
Photo Courtesy: The King Center

She wasn't just Mrs. King

Cause she can't be

Just that and still be the Queen.

You see that's the thing,

It's either you're wearing

The One crown,

Or you're trucking with

The wrong crowd.

They called her Coretta,

She was a Civil Guerrilla.

She took the mantle from Elijah

That would be Dr. Martin Luther

And she founded the King Center.

Blacks were called 'ugly,' 'deceitful,'

Was 'downtrodden,' and 'bowed'.

She taught them 'Black is beautiful.'

Made 'em declare, 'I'm Black and proud.'

She knew a woman's place

And she ran the race

Keeping her eyes on the prize,

Upholding values, at a price,

Laid down by her beloved husband.

She perfected 'em in her life,

Making valiant men and women

Out of their children.

She has lived twice

And deserves the diadem

Explicitly, both times.

Akpan

Champion's Pledge

Courtesy: Twitter

March ahead

Tho the trail be dead

And your feet heavy as lead.

And when you chance that ledge

You take the Champion's Pledge:

“I won't turn back

My fight will not slack

I will march ahead

Or it's face down dead.

I'm fearing no man,

I'm not worried about anything

Even if I'm the last man

Left I'm still standing.”

Go march on oppression

Retreat's out of the question.

March down the walls of Jericho

And stand on the ruins of its portico

And declare victory

In the midst of adversity.

March ahead

Don't ever be caught dead

Slandering the progress

Of a fallen pilgrim.

Genuine resistance is ruthless

Tomorrow shall never be grim

Just believe

This march will birth reality

As a concrete dream.

Akpan

Evil Triumphant

Courtesy: UNHCR

Give me your son

That we may eat him,

Bring me the sun

That we may heat him

And cremate his bones

And pretend we ain't seen a thing.

We'll shake n' bury the bones

Why not?

I've seen you engulfed in war

And I turned a blind eye

Why not bring it on

When the spotlight's mine?

We'll keep goin' on n' on

And eventually, there'll be none

Of us left in the world.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria,

Up in the North East,

Bordering the country, Niger,

A wildfire's kindling,

50,000 people scattered

From hell to breakfast.

What about the children?

Can we still call ourselves human

If the spirit's not kindred?

When do we get back to normal?

Hear the children crying

Picture the helpless dying,

Imagine the Government denying.

They stockpiling corpses

While we count our losses,

They're modifying clauses.

We need a sense of belonging

Something to show

We're a part of humanity

Besides this cutthroat

Existence they're dealing.

Akpan

Aqua-Mari

Mari Copeny is on gofundme (visit website) raising
money to purchase water filters for folks in
her hometown of Flint.

In downtown Flint,

Lives Little Miss Flint.

Her face is set like flint

And in her eyes lives a caring glint.

She takes on a daring mission

By a personal constitution.

A legit million dollar baby,

Bearing the weight of a community

On a tiny shoulder

That would shatter a boulder.

She understands water

Is essential to living

Yet hygienic water

Is not accessible to many

In her forgotten community.

Truth is

Access to potable water

Is smackdown human right.

One man deprived

His water rights

Is all men denied

Their basic rights.

Now relate that imagery

To an entire community

Exposed to diverse disease

Cause their water source ceased

To produce anything but grease.

This is the business

Mari Copeny's standing witness,

Giving her Widow's Mite

And she sends you an invite

In Flint's darkest night,

Will you lend your little light?

Akpan

Blood Is Thicker Than Slugs

Photo Courtesy: @TeaPainUSA (Twitter)

 

From general purpose machine guns

To children's toy guns,

That got a blackman shot

To Kingdom come

Inside a store at the toy section

Where it was placed

On open display.

Cause someone saw

Him and called the cops,

Who called the shots,

Who made him bite the dust,

It's all menace to society

Bringing a lot mo' harm

Than prompting charity.

It's time for gun laws to disarm.

Guns have since changed,

Why make gun laws stay same?

How many folks carrying

Have prevented a mass shooting?

How many more ain't gun-carrying,

Ever initiated a mass shooting?

Duplicated genocide

Is on a steady rise

Cause assault rifles

Are as commonplace as trifles.

“It's not the gun,

It's the mindset of the bum.”

So then defuse the bomb

Restrict the bum

From getting access to guns.

Guns don't shoot themselves

But folks put 'em on shelves

And showcase the shells,

That's how the thing sells.

Senseless laws bring slugs

Slugs spill blood.

And a gun is no

Respecter of persons.

So act like you know

And count your blessings

If you's alive

To witness another sunrise.

Now, move your butt. Arise!

Let's end the violent reprise.

Akpan