Day 16: Turn the Page

It's my birthday!

It’s my birthday today

And I ran out of words to say.

It feels weird feeling this way

But it’s not the first time the void’s held sway.

But I gatto do what I gatto do,

I gatto be true to all that’s true

And show the world that I came through

And thrived despite the stuff I went thro.

So here’s a token of courage

Dished out on a plate of rage;

My heart’s been strengthened by age

And life keeps turning the page.

Akpan

IntShoWriMo 2014: Day 16

Day 16: One Ill Turn

You are a world-renowned mystery writer living a life of seclusion. A random email informs you of a great story, the next bestseller. Unfortunately, you find the details to be a little too close to home. Write a scene where you confront this mysterious informant, who seems to know a little too much about your personal life.

—WritersDigest.Com

Word Count: 1,000+

Eneh Akpan,
June 16th, 2014

Day 16: Reign

It's my birthday!

I was born to reign.

I gatto lay it on you the way it is

Because I do not underestimate

The power of my story.

I dare the shadow of death

Riding the floors of its valley,

My prophecy promises no regret;

I found something to die for and I’m fit to live.

The sorrow I visualize tomorrow,

Thro tear-blinded eyes

Is the fall of a sparrow;

Hope often holds the element of surprise.

The travails in the dungeon

Is the stick of the crayon

With which I paint a new course of history.

I am all set to be martyrized

For the justification of my dream.

Yet, I will not stand aside and get pulverized

Before the event of itsaccomplishing.

A frame of the faintest vision

Will suffice as a ledge of incentive.

My mission will not lie

In a cemetery of objectives,

Neither will the potential I am die.

My unique properties will come thru

Busting like morning light from behind dark clouds.

If hate multiples the pain I go thru

I shall not be moved; I shall not be bound.

Akpan

Day 16: Unflawed

Photo courtesy: guardian.co.uk

For Achebe. Farewell, Soul Brother!

…And for me. It’s my birthday today.

Nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

I have made myself clear to death in no mean terms,

“You ain’t nothing but a provisory gateway

“When it’s hi time, I’m a walk thru you like I earned’t.”

It’s gon’ be nobody’s way but my right of way.

Cause, I am the vision that sticks in your eye;

The picture that stays on your mind;

The oracle that pricks up your ear;

The desire that weighs on your heart.

Cause nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

I have made my mistake and been perfected by its making.

I have grown tall by feeding my faculty with the knowledge of me.

In a time when men cringe at the sight of persecution, I triumph still;

I have been weighed on the scale I guess, the scale was found wanting.

Cause, I am the vision that sticks in your eye;

The picture that stays on your mind;

The oracle that pricks up your ear;

The desire that weighs on your heart.

Cause nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

Now I do not claim to have been perfect my entire life (nobody is),

But I’ve tried to inject class into my downfalls and bring style to my flaws.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I traded sighs for smiles. It’s my thing.

I have walked the length and breadth of pain’s corridors; I’m ready for glory falls.

Cause, I am the vision that sticks in your eye;

The picture that stays on your mind;

The oracle that pricks up your ear;

The desire that weighs on your heart.

Cause nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

Alone, I have trudged the sewers of despair’s waste

I was like a man stargazing from the bottom of a well.

Misery told his entire story on my body; but it made me chaste.

And now I surfaced like oil whooshing from a rig and I got a story to tell.

Cause I am the vision that sticks in your eye;

The picture that stays on your mind;

The oracle that pricks up your ear;

The desire that weighs on your heart.

Cause nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

Still standing, still breathing, still going thru the motions and still thriving;

This is the story of a life that has been subjected to executive drama;

A personal history of a man who has nurtured his soul on tragedy.

The selfsame man who has been translated from tragedy to triumph; a soul brother.

And I am the vision that sticks in your eye;

The picture that stays on your mind;

The oracle that pricks up your ear;

The desire that weighs on your heart.

Cause nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

Yes, nobody, but nobody

Betters my unflawed story.

Akpan