Eneh Akpan Writes: Goodluck Jonathan

Showing posts with label Goodluck Jonathan. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Goodluck Jonathan. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The N. Word

Happy birthday, Nigeria!

Here have a green rose.

The only way to close a book might be to turn the page

And an offering of peace in a time may trigger rage

The land of my affection blazes at its coming of age

I shudder in the wake

Of intense hate as my strength fails

I anticipate things disintegrate into rut and decay

I cringe at the sight and before the waters break

I feel the flux of faith flush my follicles feeding in grace

And the feeling comes home

It’s who I am it’s why I am

An indivisible individual

It’s all part of a bigger game plan

I am N I am the oasis of the Sahara

I am I I eclipse the sky I’m still standing vertical

I’m a G still on the real and definitely perceptual

I am E my game is lyric like a Negro Spiritual

I am R roaring like the black Simba it’s natural

I’m the I in the sky so fly so intellectual

I’m the Ace riding the hate winning’s ritual

Did you know patience is easy if it is all you have

That the way home might lead through a graveyard

That tho Rome wasn’t built in a day the builders were Roman

You don’t know the half

My play’s first act starts as all falls apart

This too will pass my story will surpass this lame impasse

Ain’t living in denial I witnessed the bloodbaths

I saw the bodies turned to ash the aftermath of the blasts

Yet the feeling comes home

It’s who I am it’s why I am

An indivisible individual

It’s all part of a bigger game plan

I am N I am the oasis of the Sahara

I am I I eclipse the sky I’m still standing vertical

I’m a G still on the real and definitely perceptual

I am E my game is lyric like a Negro Spiritual

I am R roaring like the black Simba it’s natural

I’m the I in the sky so fly so intellectual

I’m the Ace riding the hate and winning’s ritual

Akpan

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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Color of Water

Celebrating Nigeria's 51st Independence Anniversary

Come on over here,

Let me shake your hand.

Do you have one minute?

Can you sit a spell with me?

I know the heart has journeyed from present;

Troubadours of imagination over-keening

Relics of that undiscovered country

I’ll show you the meaning of Africa

Ease you into my lil’ secret, soul brother;

I know

the color

of water.

A river serenades the streets of the cities;

Two rivers in unbroken swells sync into unity’s axis.

The rains you witness forerun the breakers of prophecy.

Ain’t it all so clear for you to see?

Hey, Beautiful, you must be from my country.

You ain’t flauntin’ marks of a tribe over your identity,

You’re sprung on a dialect of 300; your swagger’s a culture of peace.

Say, you sure, you ain’t from Nigeria?

Come and I’ll fill you in on a wee secret, soul sister;

I fetched

the color

of water.

I never forget a color.

Han, han, not this one.

It’s the instant image that springs up

At the mention of you.

The flush of green sprayed over your landscape

That reaches out thro’ you.

See?

I never forget a color.

I open the door and reality hit me like a hammer.

I saw stars and I saw the color…

of water.

I know the color of water

And it sure as the next sunrise ain’t tribal;

I know

the color

of water

It’s West African sepia.

Author’s Note:

I know the heart has journeyed from present – Wole Soyinka

That Undiscovered Country – William Shakespeare referring to the future.

West African sepia – Wole Soyinka, Telephone Conversation
Soul Brother/sister - A nod to Chinua Achebe's Beware, Soul Brother

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