Slaves In A Masquerade

Photo Courtesy: India Today (Facebook)

I fell for the girl in the picture

I saw nothing of her features

But the potential of the future

Only she could candidly capture

I fell in love with the message

Written on her fiery face

The little that peeked thru her veil

With the rage in her sway

The way she carried her frame

Within the cage of her pain.

I fell in love with how she braved

A danger so grave

Marching forward she won't cave

In to threat of the Taliban

Because she is a woman

Who has tasted freedom

Because she is a woman

Rousing the eye of the storm

Because she is a woman scorned

And now she raising hell

With her cardboard upheld

Her future none may readily tell

Cause terrorists trade

Modesty for slaves in a masquerade

Her march on Kabul is beauty

Raiding the belly of the beast

Her presence on the streets

Without male escort service

Is an article of taboo

Yet she calls that bull

She'll march to turn the rule

She'll march until they shoot

Her down

And her blood cries out

From the ground

And her voice rains like clouds

That's why I fell for her

And why my pen bleeds for her.

Akpan

Kabul Kamikaze

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR
The Taliban reportedly denied having anything to do
with the Kabul explosions and I'm not arguing that but
I'm wondering what they would have done about it had America
not made a move to deal with the mastermind of the attack.
Is the Taliban prepared to protect life and property, at all costs?

All freedom fighters

Are automatically, rebels

Yet prospects can be a lot brighter

If you turn up the decibel

And turn down this Babel

Know that any legit revolution

Will be branded rebellion.

And there can be no resolution

While you ignore the shedding of blood

Lift up your eyes towards Kabul

And see your folks go kaboom!

Where is the sense of security?

Where is any show of empathy?

You who has tasted freedom

In your deepest, darkest night

Mustn't bow now to intimidation

Dark don't scare candlelight

Despair submits to hope

Arise and take back your home,

Occupy Afghanistan!

Freedom is not free

Lay it on thick on the Taliban

Pump your fist

For the freedom of the woman

For the education of your kids

For the choice of the man

Do I need to draw you a diagram?

Behold the flogging of your maid

Cause she won't become a masquerade

A riot is the language of the unheard

Keeping quiet gets you dead

You have a chance to earn

Your life back if you face it

Than playing hide-and-go-seek

Or it's farewell to peace

Things are no longer at ease

Don't take the heat lying down

Make 'em give account

Make 'em make everybody count

No one will blame you

If you play the fool

But will you live on your knees

Or rather die on your feet,

With the possibility of thriving

On your feet thrown in the mix?

Nobody loves a coward

The time is now

March onward!

Do it now.

Akpan

I Am Not Osama

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I am not Osama

I didn't topple The Twin Towers

To put Afghanistan

On the world map

I am not the Islamist,

A muslim fundamentalist

What I mean is

I am not a terrorist

And I do not deserve any

Of the things happening to me

Because I am not Osama

I didn't bring on my dilemma

Because I am not the Taliban

A cousin to Al Qaeda

That's why I live in absolute fear

As imminent death draws near

Because I am not Osama

Who implicated Afghanistan

But I am Afghanistan

Who betrayed Osama

And welcomed the Allies

Yet once again, Talibanised,

The world has abandoned me

To the hands of those who mistreat

Me and profit from my misery,

To the fate of a hasty retreat,

War rapes my land with impunity

I am not Osama

I am not a mad man

Enslaved by thoughts of

World domination

Who triggered a crisis of

Significant proportion.

Please, cut the blame game

I'm in dire need of critical aid

I am Afghanistan

I am a million children

Crying out from the bleachers

A circumstantial evidence

Of a game of role reversal

Gone awfully wrong.

I need humanitarian support

While all hope is not lost

I am Afghanistan

I am the voice of the free woman

Caught up in the trap

Of being married off to claptrap

I am a man

Who's lost every reason to stand

Every claim

To earn my daily bread.

I am Afghanistan

Don't turn your back,

Don't color me bad.

Akpan

Let's Get Serious And Go To War

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR (modified)

We’ve come too far raise the bar

And erect a gas chamber

Why not toss a bomb

Blow that laughter to kingdom come

Let’s get serious and go to war.

What’s peace

Got to do with't when bliss

Tangos with ignorance

Brotherhood pays penance

We got too much love

To give it snaps the cord

Let’s get serious and go to war.

Drug that wimp

Slug the pregnant bitch

Drown the damn refugee

And put that river on the map

I know you lo’ that

Com’on show me some blood

Let’s get serious and spark a war.

A party ain’t a party

If the war dogs ain’t in it

Get ready to make some noise

Cause the boys gon’ bring their toys

We been having loads of fun

Let’s get serious and throw a war.

Forget breakdancin’

We ammo freelancin’

Bomb some kill ‘em off

An off-the-set James Bond

Don’t show me love

Show me a Kalashnikov

Let’s get serious and bomb the world.

Akpan

Thicker Than Blood

World Refugee Day

I took a ride

In the passenger side

By my best friend’ side

And I got hit by surprise

Like a one-two punch to the side

When the ghastly sights

Paid out in the deep of my mind

Time to do right's never been this tight

                                             

As I bend the corner

There's structures scattered from hell to breakfast

School's been out since summer

And don't look like it'll be back by November

We may not stop the rain of leaves in October

But with open arms we can show em it's far from over

Arm in arm as one people we grow stronger

Thro the storm with refugees we stand together

The lives and future of millions

Rest on the pinions of our opinions

They sailed from afar seeking a new Zion

Fleeing a dungeon they once called home

It's our turn to offer them hope

Bring them into the fold initiate a reunion

Give them warm embrace like true companions

Akpan

Why Horror Sells at Christmas

Why do people create horror-themed works for Christmas?

Well, do you think they have a choice? 'Tis the season to be gory. Let the season come upon a midnight scream!

Horror-themed Christmas movies (art, books and poetry) reveal our dark side. They tell us there is a reason to celebrate and look beyond all the terrors and waking nightmares that taunt and haunt us. And people really do find it intriguing to be able to sit back on their sofa during the holidays, grab a bowlful of popcorn in their hands and munch away while watching a really good shock/suspense Christmas movie.

Photo: audio-history.blogspot.com

I'm not trying to make fun of a noble event or blaspheme a holy cause or anything of the sort. But the birth of the Christ was horror-themed. Somebody did try to murder him, if my knowledge of the Bible is not all that rusty, when he was born. A king, I believe it was. And you do remember how that chapter of the Holy Book ends, do you not? The Herod eventually executes every child from age two and beneath thereby, setting himself up as the most infamous infanticide in history.

Besides, as we celebrate, we ought to be made to recall not everybody enjoys the same privileges like us. There's somebody someplace going to get robbed naked on Christmas day; a child on life-support might not make it through the season; life will never be the same (for worse than for better) for some folks after this Christmas. You think I'm sick for mentioning stuff as troubling as these are during the season? Well, take a look around you. Is life more promising during the yuletide than it was in say, November? I'll bet my shirt, it's not.

The war in Syria, the fighting in Afghanistan even in Nigeria (though, of recent things have looked up at least on one occasion, when the military trapped a few members of the bomb-chucking maniacs and annihilated them) the terrorist group, Boko Haram is still very much around and in business.

I don't quite understand the mechanism of some people's minds, but it seems people are more terrified by horror-themed movies than they are of real life-deleting scenarios. Folks watch a horror flick, look away in disgust and exclaim, "What sort of sick individual could have imagined such a thing?" Now here comes the news guy with gruesome images of war and homicide-man actually, killing his fellow man-and this same folks sit up and yell for more live video shooting of the whole drama. If you told them that's gross. They'll probably reply, "Why. That's  the NEWS. It really happened!" And you wonder if that ought to make it less or more horrifying.

Every Christmas (since 2010), I write Christmas-themed poetry. This year, I'm taking a crack at horror-themed Christmas poems. 13 dark verses which I have named Thirteen Days of Christmas. It's definitely a new experience for me and I do hope to learn a few new tricks in the art of shutting people's system down, even though temporarily, through the art of fear. It's always a lovely thing to find new reasons to celebrate. Gore came down at Christmas! (Sorry, I mean, love.)

There ought to be a chicken in every pot but you and I can name a few cases where there was no pot and the chicken caught a cold and died a few days before Christmas. Try to get yourself a very merry Christmas and keep in mind that it's better to visit the house of mourning than a place of fun especially, fun for the sake of it. That's probably, why horror sells at Christmas.

Have a horrific Christmas!

Akpan

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