Johnny Come Lately

Johnny come lately

Come with me quickly

Where the hell you been hiding

The train's just about moving.

Akpan

Before The Throne

I want to belong

Where I can go

Where memory is strong

Beyond the bone.

May I touch the ark

When it's undertow

Shear me like a lamb

Cause me to know

The deep things of love

Full like wild oats

Where hope still blossoms

And joys made whole

Yeah, I'll sing a song

All on my own

My words will go forth

Before the throne

Akpan

Grace Lives In You

To trap a modicum of grace

In these mortal hands like a vice

Is the sweetest besides your face

I would have lived my whole life twice.

Like a cistern that catches rain

I want to reach out and catch faith

Save me from the little foxes

That destroy the fruit of the vine

And steal alabaster boxes

Then trip my feet with snaky twine

No matter what, it is your face

That makes me crave to touch your grace

It's a genuine blessing knowing you,

It's the easiest task loving you

Your face in the cup of my hands

Is unspeakable joy in fullness

Akpan

Prodigal

I will arise now

Like the sun of righteousness

Clothed in glittering gown

To overtake my happiness

I will usher in

Refreshing so steadfast

And make my sun stand still

Over the mountains of shadowcast

I will arise fast

And go back to Egypt land

And search for that basket

Within the reeds bracket

Maybe I'll find the secret map

To the milk and honey on Canaan

I will arise

And travel back in time

On the scales of Nile Crocodiles.

Akpan

Wrapped Like A Present

A life-changing moment

Wrapped like a present

Is cast into my laps

These words have witnessed torment

And now the die is cast

Thus by Divine consent,

These words shall not decay

Like His hands molded clay

Once in a garden faraway

I shall take each letter

And refine them in fire

Then proceed to hammer

'Em into words of silver

Arraigned in bold type-face

I'll let loose a new phase

Akpan

Jaunt To Next

I'm taking this joint

To the next level

I'm losing no point

Though my edge shrivel

I'm taking the hurdle for granted

I'm shot right from the navel

My demons are painted

I'm poised like the gavel

I'm turning rage inside out

I'm making broken wings proud

I'm riding that pedestal

My ascent gon' be crystal

I'm mounting up like eagles

Making my entrance regal

And I'm hunting game like beagles

I'm tight enough to wiggle.

Akpan

A Glass Of Bitters

Pleasure seems sweet
But proves a glass of bitters
Not all that sleep
Indulge in vainful wanders
Time always tells
But sometimes, truth may be slant
Dark light repels
But all dark's unpleasant
Roses are red
But blood is a shade deeper
Grass proves a bed
When mattress is a-skelter
Books are open
Though few would purge your bladder
Rules are broken
But proves a wall of adders.

Akpan

Raw Entrance Wounds

There's a new hole in my heart
A gash of raw entrance wounds
Like a world with blown up parts
With the bowels bare in the moon
Like a breath of wind through a keyhole
The center cannot hold its own
Flowing like water through a basket
A sea of blood gushes from the gash.
The old hole is still mending
The new cut is raw, running deep
I'm like a sponge soaking in waters
Of feeling but I'm no retainer
Feeling is heartfelt torture
Cold turkey is the new culture
I was digging around a hole
When I found my heart was not whole.

Akpan

Wordiness

I'm a con locked in a cage of words

I'm a vessel docked on a port of words

I'm a loner lost in a forest of words

I'm a bookworm grounded on a dune of words

I'm a script stuck in a vortex of words

My legs are wading a pool of words

My steps are prints on a beach of words

I'm a scuba diver browsing an ocean of words

I'm King Tut fenced in by a pyramid of words

I'm a nerd surfing on a wave of words

I'm a troubadour riding a wave of words

I'm a solar plate charging in a ray of words

I'm a puppy nosing in a litter of words

My life is a hard drive of words

The world is an atmosphere of words

Akpan

War Zone

Don't dance on unknown objects

Don't pick up unknown objects

Don't inspect unknown object

They might agents of death

Watch your back before you speak

Watch to whom it is you speak

Watch the very words you speak

They might agents of death

Never go out when it's dark

Never speak out when it's dark

Never help out when it's dark

They might agents of death

When you whimper hold your breath

When you may sneeze hold your breath

And when you laugh hold your breath

They might agents of death

Akpan

Zero At The Heart

I could try and put up a show

Turn up the heat against the cold

Stoke the flame with some baby bones

Yeah, then maybe I'll raise a toast

I'll mop up with buckets of blood

Call an airstrike and shock the world

I won't bother to count the cost

We could all do without the fuss

I'd ride on the abused children

That cause' been taken for granted

Let's kiss and bang and bring the end

I'd sip palm wine from infant's skull

Than bash it against missile shell

I kinda love this ongoing war

I'd hate to see it come to an end

Akpan

Roll Of A Dice

At the roll of a dice
My vista is a field of ice
The cold is a potent device
The wind from the East
Slays with its breath like a beast
How you going to keep the peace
When you attack roots of peace
They say life is a gamble
So we decide to amble
But our sins are gnawing on us
While children ask, 'What about us?'
We're drawn, like moth to flame,
To war, to hate and shame
We'd write a book on our life
We'll name it the 'Roll of a Dice.'

Akpan

Football

I thought it would be simple

Less than making a ripple

I thought it would be a trigger

Done with the squeeze of a finger

I wanted a walk in the park

Forgot the dark came with the pack

I'm a stranger in a strange land

A rogue member of a rogue band

Only way I walk away

Is to lay it all down straight

That put me here in the first place

What other choices may I make?

I've stuck on a road so long

My life rolls on like a football.

Akpan

Hymns Of Ecstasy

The games we played

The love we made

The songs we gave

Are parcels of a trade

I'll hold your hands

And cross the sands

To take the lands

Like combos in a dance

But time will tell

If we will sell

Our love to hell

We'll such costs still repel

We'll have our say

Like rain in May

We'll mold our clay

And translate dawn to day

Akpan

At Life's End

When my life comes to an end
I'll reel on the threshold and
Number my blessings against
The lessons I'm yet to learn...
It'll be such fun to know
I came this far trusting hope

When my life comes to an end
I'll be way over my head
When I find I did get there
I'll raise my hands in the air
And pluck the stars from the sky
With shaky hands and a smile

When my life comes to an end
I'd love to celebrate a spell
Shouts of joy will close the day

Akpan

A Dime A Grime

If I had a dime

Everytime somebody died

I'd be a millionaire of a kind

If I had to grind

Every time somebody cried

I'd be a float on my own grime

If I took the walk of 10,000 miles

Backasswards to find

Affection that we left behind

I'd be forever stuck in time

Akpan

Mirrors Don't Lie

Take a look in the mirror
Search through your eyes for the horror
Poke at the lump of a tumor
With the twig of the burnt femur
You be the juror
Let your findings be law
Set your heart up as judge
Turn around and look at your world
Where would you be without war?
How is your franchise cost?
Would you just look in the mirror?

Akpan

Accountants Of The Past

We must call the past to account
For the nightmare of today playing truant
Lay all cards on the table
Pull the charts on the cable
Mark the spots that's unstable
We must make a new type
Of voice training and try
To build choices from minds
Fortified against trite
If the past makes us
Who we are
Our past has made us
Thus we are

Akpan

A Poet's Commission

'Beat dead men at what they've done
Or write what's been written by none'
This is a poet's commission
The whole terms and condition
A poet's mission
Is to bend convention
Learn all the rules
Then groove your groove

A piece of Hemingway
A large chunk of Audrey
Rise higher than Maya
Or write your own Firestarter
Do what's never been done
For twilight bounds softly forth

Akpan

Hope

Hope calls to deeper hope

Hope is enriched when it hopes

Hope fattens and thrives

By staying constantly hopeful

Hope enriches lives

But it only seeks bountiful

Hope has no shelf life

When there is hope, there is life

Akpan