Day 7: Osmosis

Come closer let me feel your warmth
And absorb the molecules of emotion
Like the shore drinks of the ocean.
I'll sip on your courage on impact
Until it drowns out my vacancy
One touch can translate a universe;
A slight brush may quicken a heartbeat.
A miracle may come thro eye contact
With a stranger on a lonely track.
Open up your heart and make an art
Of reaching out to rock the distant.

Let me share your world as we hold hands.

Your smile brings me joy on a platter.
Your grace shields me from the patter
Touch me deep with words softly whispered
Kiss me and I'll learn true surrender.

Akpan

Day 1: Bomb

If I was a bomb
I'll work on a timer
And set it on repeat.
I'll floor my visual perimeter,
Spewing lethal shrapnel of prophecy.

If I was a bomb
The reaction would be total,
The repercussion confrontational.
I'll invade the mediocre mindset
And go boom at the threat of regret.

If I was a bomb
I'll obliterate a dare called impossible,
Pound a rubble out of obstacles.
I'll go nuclear only to turn the table.
Fools will bite the dust until they shrivel.

If I was a bomb
I'll disintegrate the toys of war.
I'll lend decibels to silent clouds.
I'll bring down the glass ceiling in a storm
Of shards the waking flood drowning the freaks out.

If I was a bomb
I know where I would touch down.

Akpan

Day 18: Walls of Destiny

I can feel destiny looking over my shoulder;

The influence of karma pushing me off the deck.

My prophecy’s blowing me in alongside the breakers.

The tender wings of my courage are lifting me off the wreck.

I feel I can make it now

As the burden of oracle thrusts my feet off ground.

Haste is speed

And I call forth a whirlwind

As I reach out to perfect the process

And hurl all the properties which I’m obliged to profess

Into the morning of pure daylight.

Lambent strands of light irradiate the face of the skies

In the wake of a billion brilliant stars;

All of God’s children each acting his/her part.

The moon’s soft glow has the undertone of a smile

Even the air gives off mystic waves of an enchanted symphony.

And the film flickering on Destiny’s walls stars me, myself and, I.

So I know why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling.

My cause has chanced a habitat to nestle;

A reason to sign off the wrestle.

And it’s all thanks to the qualities I admired,

On the walls of destiny are printed dreams I sired.

The wait of the calling

Has matured and firmed the roots of the seed.

I have been found

Because I wanted to be found.

Akpan

Day 15: Incidentals

Photo: stratogen.net

What if I could fly

But my wings were wax in a thermal sky?

What if I could race across the Sahara

But my feet were like a painted terrapin’s flipper?

And what if I had the power to invent a new civilization

But my IQ was of prehistoric variation?

What if I could spit poetry like Virgil

But the sound of my voice was an alligator’s tranquil?

And what if I was feet to the stars

But my dream to be a legend was stalked by a fragile heart?

And what if I was the seal of authority

Yet kept up a vagrant clueless about my nobility?

And if I could skip 1,000 walls

But my assurances don’t jibe with my balls?

What use would that be, if I took a fall?

What if I relished a unique personal fantasy

Yet was scared witless of facing the incidental ecstasy?

What if I could anticipate seeds of the future in events of the past

Yet came short of coherence to watch it come to pass?

What if I could explode into a million seeds

But faltered when confronted by the impact?

What if the detail of my future was the beauty of paradise

Yet I couldn’t begin one day at a time?

And what if I could live the extraordinary life

But copped out for suicide?

What if I could alter the aftermath in these lines

Yet I’d rather not give it a try?

And what if I never mentioned it outright

Would you have seen the you represented in the I?

Would you detect the lie behind which you did hide?

Akpan

Day 5: Picture

Photo courtesy: Denis Collette...!!!

To paint a picture

You must master yourself;

Anticipate the esteem your personality will fetch ya.

You require a set of principles that will divide bone from flesh.

Every morning as I step across my bedroom’s threshold into the day

I’m quietly, brushing on the canvas of reality an impression:

This is who I am; I’m making an introduction.

I’m etching the memory of me into the memory of existence.

My dream is to steer my course clear of wanton distractions

And turn the vessel in towards harbor thro the itinerary of elegance.

To etch a name on the marble of time

Implies to awaken into joyous daybreak from a long, terrible night.

The first opening of the eyelids is a decision between life and death.

You experience triumph in every intake of breath

Cause you unveiled the purpose of individuality.

To paint a picture

You need much more than a white sheet of paper;

You require an in-depth knowledge of culture.

To paint a picture is to become a shape-shifter.

You must reach beyond who you are and bind with a new nature.

I often sit and around and ponder

How much my life has evolved thro the years,

The tests which have come and made me stronger.

I’m a variety of a man who has curbed his fears.

I haven’t been crippled by what’s happened to me.

But I’ve changed, mutated; I’ve been made better.

Life has not treated me fair but I take everything it deals

In my stride. I gotta keep going one way or the other.

To paint a picture

Take it one day at a time, test the waters, test the texture.

One thing is needful. Fairly run-of-the-mill to be dismissed

As trite. I have grappled with the nature of my destiny;

It’s a delight being myself, I have realized.

And every time I take a step I seek to express the I.

This is all I live for; to achieve, to obtain, to become.

To advertize the person I am as brand,

To promote the content of my character as an item to live for.

Life can be sweet and beautiful and grand.

It’s what I tell myself

And I try to make myself see why I’m in the middle of it.

This is a world I created straight off the shelf

This is sole reason it’s a pleasure to bleed.

To paint a picture

Is to grapple with what men have grappled with for ages;

To come to inevitable outcomes and still find grace to conquer.

You have to make sacrifices and feel your way thro unique stages

Of change as you erase obstacles and erect a standard.

I am who I am because I set my face like flint.

I’ve been feeling so good playing by my own rules

Each morning the sun rises to witness in my eyes a glint;

It’s the miracle that I am; I’ve got nothing else to prove.

To paint a picture

You must define the difference between what is real and what’s unseen.

You must streamline the consequences; align faith with adventure.

Make every stroke of the brush count. Match it with your heartbeat.

Take your time, survey your environment, immerse yourself in your creativity.

You got this one shot, break new grounds like Picasso.

Keep in mind who you are, let it guide your choice of tone

To paint a picture

Is to define your essences and illustrate your existence

As a conscious deliberate, life-altering process,

It signifies to unravel the simple, minuscule precedents

And convert these into the most enchanting, glamorous moments.

This is the picture each individual is committed to create on life’s canvas.

One brush, one painter, one canvas, one landscape. It’s not math,

It’s a spiritual thing; a state of mind, like traveling with a compass.

I paint a picture

With every step I take, I aim for the portals of the future.

If the details of my life were writ in water,

I’ll freeze it up and create carvings like hieroglyphs on the Rosetta.

I am the image of One far exquisite than everything the earth has to offer;

I rep this Entity, my every action denounce His unflawed character.

When I smile I’m saying, “I can take this.”

I feel élan course thro and I know I can handle this.

All God’s creations surrounding me form the background of the painting.

My heart is strong; I’m equipped to write my own story.

Akpan

Day 4: Black Boy

You are charisma dressed up in a hueless coat of mail;

Like peering through a slit by the window pane ‘cause someone pulled the shades.

But most especially, you are you.

Dark, lovely, tinted beauty. Quintessentially, you.

You see, I envy that swank;

The way you put the attitude on black,

Like blue on the skyline.

Step to it, bro. It’s aiight!

I see the dark side of a moon

And waves flood my mind with images of you.

Your sensitivity sets the universe in motion;

Your skin tone is my favorite fascination.

I look at you, I see God’s masterplan;

Nature’s own inimitable descriptive tan.

Your charm’s a peek at a divine masterpiece.

The touch of grace on your life is an unfolding I duly commend.

I flip the page to review this centerpiece;

A little more space to etch your image into the surface.

Strength of your courage trips me on the exhale,

How you stuck to the path when it was apparent you’d fail;

How you grappled in anticipation clawing your way up from the grave.

You always held on to that something.

A certain quality which gave you an edge;

You could erect something special from a mound of nix.

I could go on and on how you’re set way up on a ledge,

About your life, your love and, your depth of devotion,

Your passionate selflessness that lights up your complexion.

This is who you are

You ought to take credit for sparking off great adventures of the heart.

You are the marvel of a black generation,

A genuine brother who set a worthy cause in motion.

I feel your rhythm as the vibes feed your veins.

And it’s only natural this level of badness never decays.

Its properties guard the memory of its hero;

Death and destruction are outmatched against it as rust on gold.

How could anyone ever imagine putting chains on you?

My D’Jango unchained. Trailing clouds of glory you arrived

Enveloped in eclipse, kitted up in finest silk of midnight.

And then you have the reputation of being uniquely African:

Intelligent, genuine attitude, and going strong cause you can.

Family before business, blood over money, death before dishonor,

A concrete institution, functional enterprise who never flunks expectations.

You bring a whole new twist to determination,

Hitting it off each time and picking off competition

Like green bottles on the wall.

You possess the greatest life of all.

This is who you are;

A black boy who commands the sum of his parts,

A diamond that discharges an uncanny aura.

Yeah, I see where you’re coming from;

I see your journey lead through pain and a sad song,

I’m a witness to the sacrifice of the prodigal;

How they hauled you away trussed, how you struggled.

I still hear the voices scorn could not altogether strangle.

I know the battles you gatto stand up to,

The everyday tough decisions you gatto make,

And the ingenuous promises you gatto make good.

You’re always on top of the game give or take.

The one sensational, unique black brother.

You exhibit panache to take the fight a step further.

You’re a wonder, a history-maker but above all, a black boy.

You’re a man with every right to live large and free

The emblem of freedom and nobody’s toy.

Rise on the wings of that knowledge and breathe.

Black boy the tint with a dint of personal eruptions,

Take it to another level, watching you succeed is such fun.

Mount up like a tidal wave,

Seize the moment like dusk claims the day.

You are who you are and you shouldn’t change that.

A person of color and explicitly dark.

You look good.

Damn if it don’t feel good talking about you.

The allegoric nightfall.

Personification of home, family, rest and love.

God must have had a hard time making up his mind

When he brushed you up in a shade of gray.

Go ahead, take the stage. Unleash your dignity and ride,

You deserve it, you made the grade.

Akpan

Lifestyle (I)

Question my lifestyle

Hypocrites got me hypnotized.

When they’re the very things who compromised,

Switching the truth for a set of lies.

Through the years,

We’re still shedding stifled tears.

We had our multiple shares

Of deliberate pain and bold fears.

So we do what needs to be done

Cause till kingdoms fall,

Fools will never learn

Nor could they exactly discern

That the reason we still breathing,

Even though, we still bleeding,

Cause the drama they keep bringing,

Is cause we ain’t quitting.

Heroes ain’t made, but born.

I was born of the fiercest persecution;

Tribulation that would pale the Armageddon.

Was taught it’s my destiny

To endure soul mutiny.

Now the labors of futility

Label my existence vanity.

And why should that bother me?

Or stand in the path of who I be?

I will live as I please

And the vanities will never decrease

But increase to disturb the peace

Of every one of ‘em hypocrites.

I was born into the ghetto

Of the shades of sorrow.

Life’s never been what it seems

So, I’m not gonna pretend that ya’ll w/out sins.

From your least to the greatest

Your very kind of virtue stinks.

I hustle cause life’s a gamble

I struggle to go thro the huddle.

The race I run

No other human can outrun.

Just put the crumbs together

And the imposing sum will make you numb.

And somehow, I find the breath to exhale

And by what’s leftover I attain.

Still all your corrupt talent could see was a thug.

You make the sign of the cross

Yet, squash endangered souls like a bug.

Now the outcast from the last

Shall creep fast and proceed to be first.

If I be lost

My blindness would blind the sun

To hydroplane me through

The darkness of fools.

Best not question my lifestyle,

Cause still I’ll rise.

Akpan

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One Black Body

One black body.

As the teardrops spout thro’ the windows of my eyes

It’s hard to visualize paradise

Regained thro’ the tools of compromise.

But a foot-soulja like me

Knows the drill to never say die.

From below surface, like boosted rockets, I climb

Mortifying every challenge with retaliation.

A master of my own kismet, I execute my obligation

Operating on a higher level of courage

That would function nowhere else but center stage.

(If you must know anything man, know thyself!)

And commands awe like a clutter of spent shells.

Reigning in identity,

My affections sprung on the labors of integrity.

Souls of ancestors

Watching on, watching me, from the grandstand.

Applauding the triumphs of a survivor;

A true native son

In one black body.

There’s no one who can change my tomorrow today.

My course is charted

And the light of my life is waking

On the horizon. Cause my Red Sea’s parted.

Now I know why the caged bird sings.

I’m drunk on invention n’ ammunition,

Bracing the glare of the sun as it penetrates my rust.

Hate couldn’t displace my faith

Cause my rage and grace erased the bait of hate.

This is my pride of place:

The remolding of a pound of clay.

And my past shall not defect my future,

I adopted dyin’ to live as an item of ritual.

Prodding with ideas that’ll explode in the light,

My ideas wake me in the watches of the night.

I’ll take it and let it be

In one black body.

And in this body

Will arise the making of dynasties;

The unmaking of impossibilities;

The breaking of infinities,

Till kingdom come.

To testify how I walked thro’ walls

Before the keeper of all that is kept-

When I stand on that holy mountain-

Of a creature coming home with a 100 fold talent;

Of a worm’s strength when tests rose up like Cain.

Of new beginnings from a past of defeat;

About the determination of a Negro

Prompted by his enthusiasm and belief

In a simple childhood code.

Till I kick up a new facet of history

In one black body

I stand in awe of a past rooted in pain.

My soul bleeds at the mention of history’s shame.

Downtrodden but not downcast;

Blacklisted but going strong with a blast.

I leap on the back of the wind and cruise

World’s unknown my mind in tune with my muse.

And still not buying into a white-washed history.

Take one peek at mystery’s next-big-thing;

Drink your fill of a jewel of peculiar worth,

Shouldn’t come as a surprise I got balls n’ a song.

Situation steeped me in a turd of imperfection

Still the makings of me exhale God’s own split image.

Used to go around flashing a badge of shame

Only to get flung up by Redemption’s ditty.

This is where my forever story derives its beginning:

In one black body.

Akpan

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