Day 17: Dead Reckoning

So tell me how you run a destiny
Is it like an automobile?
Like you gatto have a key?
Does it feature ignition?
And what about the engine?
I might suspect internal combustion.
Does it roll on wheels?
Is there room for two or three,
Or do you tunnel thro solo?
Does the route fly like a sparrow?
Or do you beat your own path
Thro the wild and hit a deadpan?
Can you stray from your itinerary?
Is maintaining focus a luxury?
D'you dig for it like buried treasure?
D'you master it like a signature?
Does it grow on you?
Keep you company, too?
Do you acquire skill
On how you run a destiny?

Akpan

Day 15: Rime Within Rime

Walk like a champion

Talk like a champion

Stalk like a champion

Decode like Champollion.

Unique like a drop of sunshine

Paradise resides in your eyes;

Subtle and sublime like moonshine,

Vibes crystallize in you like ice.

Sometimes, when you ride, you coincide

Like rimes within rimes of a multi-rime.

Divine design live and alive

A last line that vibrates thro time.

Akpan

Day 12: E.G

Take for instance,
I'm strung on this penchant
Tho I can't flow cause I'm peasant
So I'm a victim of circumstance.

Take for example,
I had a bite of the apple.
So I ride ingenuity's lapel.
But all around are hostile people.

Take for illustration,
There's this wide range of options
So I'm stuck for a decision.
But I wipe the program and toss caution.

Akpan

Day 6: Sorry

I'm tryna keep this affair low-key.
So long as we stay on the same page.
I'll keep my distance, you keep your apology.
Sorry, won't get fooled again.

I hope in time, you find your niche
Cause I intend to fine tune my pitch.
That 'Let's start over' thing is so lame.
Sorry, won't get fooled again.

And this face off means all debt's paid.
Try to forget the games we played,
Hope you get yours all the same,
Sorry, won't get fooled again.

Akpan

Day 5: Sail

You are a sail.
You just need to find your game.
Catch a storm and set up a stage.
When sea billows come to commensurate.

You are a sail.
Set sail like a float on high winds.
Tackle the waves with a vengeful rage,
Ride the tide and find your rhythm.

You are a sail.
You're slack only until your tuff is rough.
Rise when the moon pulls the waves,
Keep your head one notch above the chaos.

Akpan

Day 4: Shero

For Maya Angelou

Your girlish smile
Is hands off suicide.
In your quest to rise
You blurred the lines,
Blending the elements of black and white.
It's cold news that stays hot;
We live the dream and the hope
You stuck out your neck for.
Bringing in the sheaves on slave boats.
We believed what we was told.
Until you gave voice to stories of old.
Can't talk legacy,
Or browse the anals of chemistry.
One name dims the words on the pages.
Like a silhouette printed on rims of mystery.
The one woman haters couldn't decode.
The undisputed, veritable shero.

Akpan

Day 3: Be Seein' You Around

It won't be long,
I'll find my way home
Thro this dark tunnel haunted
By a specter of gray ghosts.

I reach out with a song,
To a end that knows me
Yet, defies the grits of my balls;
Ain't no mercy for the hypocrite.

I turn up the heat.
I'll ride this vibe into the ground
And come up strong indeed.
In time, I'll be seeing you around.

Akpan

Day 2: Shall I

Shall I go crippled to the gates of war?
If I cringe in fear, how shall I stand tall?
How shall I dance at the sound of gunshots?
Shall I go hard or go home when they go bust?

Shall I turn in my badge at the roll call?
If valor's genuine, shouldn't I be upfront
Dancing with wolves and busting Kalashnikovs?
Shall I compensate drama with A-Bombs?

Shall I tuck tail or set a date with terror?
If I'm a soulja must I not be a warrior?
Shall I go out with guns blazing or what?
Shall I, shan't I? Not if I want to rule the world.

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 30: One Nine Five

Photo Courtesy: Twitter: @biz-life lines

195!

Boko Haram your plot’s gone live.

I blew you out of the water

Might as well halt your mass slaughter.

Had to spread the message: ‘Pot is scum;’

So you blew up school kids in Potiskum,

Right?

So what’s the 411 on 195?

Could ‘5’ represent the month of May?

And the 19 be your anticipated doomsday?

Is your plan to copy the 1928 Mather Mine explosion?*

Where 195 miners out of 279 met their creator?

Gonna blow the 195 Chibok girls straight to oblivion?

Stage your final stand with rivers of innocent blood?

                                         

I know you’re up to something

And I don’t like sounding negative.

But I feel like I’ve done the math.

195 corresponds to, I think,

The sum total of NYC’s terror attacks

Since the incident of September eleven.**

They pitched the first Chibok escapees at fifty seven;***

That’s roughly the count of IED incidents in NYC.****

Did you plot the schoolgirls’ escape to begin with?

So you’ll give false hope to the many who believe?

But we’ll yield no quarter to defeat.

We are the champions of our destiny.

195

Would be the symbol of our triumphant fight.

Akpan

* The Mather Mine disaster refers to the events surrounding an explosion that occurred in the Mather Mine on May 19, 1928 in Mather, Pennsylvania.

** START’s Global Terrorism Data Base

*** Wikipedia

**** START’s Global Terrorism Data Base

Day 29: Heroic

Freiberg am Neckar, Afrikahaus, sculptures of concrete, 1986, by Aniedi Okon Akpan and Sunday Jack Akpan
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s about this size

Runs on twos and got eyes

On the prize fakes can’t grasp.

It’s got genuine intellect,

A commitment designed for the wasp,

A flaw lost to deliberate neglect.

It walks on the skies

With feet of the stars that shine

Thro the night of relapse.

It’s the heat of the moment

Peculiarities that strum on harps,

Its weakness is the bond of its strength.

It’s tight as it’s wide,

Got one head held up high

For what lies beyond victory;

It is inventive genius,

Heroic feats that just had to be.

A story forever glorious.

Akpan

Day 27: One Moment

Azalea
Photo Credit: stumbleupon.com

Can I have one moment for all time?

One personal moment for a lifetime,

That space where I absorb all that’s mine,

Where all my purpose is duly aligned?

Can I have one second to treasure

The nameless beauties beyond measure?

My corner to cherish at leisure;

Can I get mine just for my pleasure?

Can I have one moment to exhale?

One magical moment to prevail,

That private place where distractions pale,

Where my identity is free to sail?

Can I have one lifetime to perfect

One moment in time and, connect

My soul with properties that reflect,

The image of the personality I covet?

Akpan

Day 10: See Me For Who I Am

Photo Courtesy: hd-wallpapersdownload.com

See me for who I am

Not for the million things that ruin man.

See me for the answers expressed

Not for the questions unaddressed.

See me for what I deserve

Not for the trivia life serves.

See me in the big picture;

A catalyst of a great future.

See me for who I am,

See not the stain so poignant

That throws a clog in the program.

Respect for being the man.

See me for who I am

That’s what is important,

Not for the harvest of nectar.

See me for me. It’s nothing personal.

Akpan

Day 1: If Time Was Forever

Photo Courtesy: picstexts.com

If time was forever

Could we ever get our acts together?

Could broken hearts find a place to hide?

What about those lonely tears we cried?

If time was forever

Could faith infuse our souls with power?

Could we find reason to trudge on thro?

Could we set our hopes beyond the moon?

If time was forever

How much weight could we stand up under?

Could we find strength to resist pressure?

Could memories of loved ones be treasured?

If time was forever

Could compassion still be the answer?

Could we look beyond our noses too?

And lift up the fallen in Mosul?

If time was forever

Could we believe in a life hereafter?

Could there be justice for the oppressed?

Would hope not be a pain for the dead?

Akpan

Day 30: Amanam

"Amanam" (sounds like /harmattan/) is the

Ibibio word for "Bravo!" "Good job!"

Amanam

And so I give you a hand

Cause you held your own like a man

You stood strong in your faith

And achieved the miracle of moving mountains

You sneered in the face of fate

And accomplished victories and still counting.

Amanam

Even opposition knows you can

You came from so very far away

Piercing dark clouds like a star

And the world can no longer wait.

Amanam and so I give you a hand.

Akpan

Day 29: Living Legacy

Pedestaling a champion

On the ledge of challenges.

Gallant like a stallion

Going thro the realm of Hades;

My misery is a portal

Into the exotic phenomenal.

Who I am

Is the redefinition of Adam;

Temptations

Are pointers to my predestination.

Death of a father

Conceived a seed

That exploded into a million dreams.

This is my story,

The conviction by which I have lived

On this terrestrial surface,

The makings of a destiny

That cannot be erased

Like a living legacy.

Akpan

Day 28: Details

Pictures of gruesome misery

Mark our times

We all ordained under this ministry.

Its captives within our soulish confines.

Terrorism, violence, kidnappings,

And over-indulgent embezzling

At the highest offices

Without details suffices.

Rust-rampage ravages our economy

Like a fully-ripened corn field.

Limp-limbed and hapless

We ya’ll wind-tossed and helpless.

Akpan

Day 27: Wheel with the Stars

I long to wheel with the stars

Above earthly seas,

To pitch my tent in esoteric paths

As I constantly roam the heavenlies.

It’s something I feel I gatto do

Eventually it’s something that comes true.

I wanna be the peak of the mountain.

I wanna be the particle of snow on Everest.

To bubble like a life-producing fountain.

And when my days are completed

I long to be the article of posterity

That resolves the climax of a story that never really ends.

Akpan

Day 26: Moves

Let the spirit move you

Until you defy gravity’s law

Yet without a pinion

Reach for the out-of-reach;

For hubris without a flaw.

You have no fear cause you’s a lion

Let the spirit move you

Until the momentum pulls you thro

Relax in the sun.

Let the spirit push you

Into the break of a new dawn.

And when you come thro

Stand forth!

Be a man.

Let inspiration breathe healing thoughts

Multiply like desert sand

Shoot off the top of the roof.

Let the spirit move you.

Akpan

Day 25: When Stars Are Born

In a time when stars are born

The race for reality just begun.

Sons of Adam

Scurrying to meet the demand.

Here I stand

On a pedestal surveying the land

Thro the eyes of my mind,

Like a mental rule.

Guess what I find?

A star is not a moon.

Yes they both glisten

Massive cosmic satellites

Marking and defining earth’s seasons.

I realize I need to be persuaded

From within to define where I’m headed.

If I twinkle

Would I be a diamond in the sky?

Or to put it simple,

Burn like a lamp in the sky.

Akpan