Breakdancer

For MJ

If legend you must rewrite

Then rewrite history

They say legends never die

Now there’s a mystery

What I must write

Has been written

And tho my spot is tight

I’ll wedge it

With some smooth moves

Like you used to groove

You stunned men

With a flip of your hand

And your backslide

Was one bonafide

Work of art

That moved hearts

To blame it on the good times

For me the sun always shines

They say legends never die

Blame the tears but I won’t cry.

Akpan

Chronic Encore

History is a stuck record

History is on chronic encore

History is recurrent cancer

He asks the question

And he gives the answer,

History is a broken record.

History competes with himself

He strives to best his record best

History is stuck in a flawed groove

Cause history’s got something to prove

History makes the grand opening

He takes the baton in mid-race

And cuts the ribbon at grand closing

History never gives time a break

History is on repeat

Like a radio request hit

He improvises

…and revises

And yet rotates on his axis

So the fallout's always the same

Then begins his game

Like a game of spades

Played for higher stakes

All over again.

Akpan

7 Sources of the Contemporary Fantasy Genre

This post is not so much a collection of exhaustive or even major sources of the modern fantasy genre but a list of some elementary stuff, which feeds this spectacular category of fiction. The fantasy genre has risen in popularity in recent times and it hasn’t showed any signs of losing steam.

1. Epic Poetry:

A long narrative poem in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race. (Harmon and Holman)

The first epic poetry were oral since speech came before writing or so we want to believe (we weren’t there in the beginning, were we?) And back in the day poetry was transmitted from person by word of mouth. Therefore, oral poetry can also be epic poetry.

2. Urban Legend:

This class is also known as urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend. And is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true but merely that it is in circulation, exhibits variation over time, and carries some significance that motivates the community in preserving and propagating it.

3. Myth:

According to Alan Dundes, a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind assumed their present form, although, in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story.

Myths are usually historical events, which are truly depicted or gilded over with elaborations and are usually endorsed by the rulers and priests of a culture. Usually, the narrator believes the tale as true and it’s used as allegory for or personification of natural phenomena, or as explanation of ritual. Myths communicate religious or idealized experience, and teach moral lessons.

4. Fairy Tale:

A fairy tale as a form of short story features characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, witches mermaids, or gnomes, and in several cases, magic.

Unlike legends and epics, they usually contain trivial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place ‘once upon a time’ rather than in actual times.

5. Superstition:

The belief that one event leads to the cause of another without any natural process linking the two events through a process that contradicts natural science.

Superstition as it relates to folklore is an excessive fear of the gods or unreasonable religious belief.  It also applies to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events.

6. Legend:

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude.

The events within a legend is perceived (or better yet, believed) to be possible even though the narrative may include miracles and outrageous details of the hero’s exploits.

The Brothers Grimm defined legend as folktale historically grounded.

7. Folk Art

Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople.

Unlike, fine art, folk art preserves the ideals of a culture and is practical in purpose for example, it is used to tell a story or communicate information/instruction. The nature of folk art is specific to its particular culture.

So, there you have it, a succinct inventory on the constituents of one of the most fascinating genres you would read or write.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

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Lifestyle (II)

How dare you question how I live,

When your assistance was invented to deceive?

You feed your greed

By the breakthroughs I achieve.

I let pain explain

The degree of hate I experienced on this tragic plane,

Cause the dogs are not to blame

For the name of the game.

Yet, the thugs must be crazy.

They call us lazy

Cause we provoke their hypocrisies

And expose them shady.

I do what I gatto do-

What needs to be done to get thro.

There’s hell to pay if I wait on you.

And hell’s really child’s play

When you analyze this tragedy I face.

It’s hand to mouth

And it’s world war IV to zip your snout

While starvation stabs at my throat.

It’s either hustle or I turn ghost.

In this life, you never get what you truly deserve

So I endure a fragile reserve-

A youth with one purpose for a future:

To outlive the laws of nature.

Indeed, you call me criminal

Cause I chose to be a unique individual.

You made a ritual

Of hunting me down

And succeeded in making a little fortune out

Of it while you raped my town

Naked. Truth’s abbreviated

For the prosperity of the party’s hidden manifestos,

All these god wannabe psychos

Refraining pathetic allegrettos.

We are champions of the struggle,

We were here before you,

And after your game fizzles like dew,

We’ll still be here as blinding proof . . .

Marked for death,

It’s very hard not to be afraid.         

You can’t predict what’s next

Damn, all your wit’s engaged.

I’m enslaved

By your freedom

Cause your variety of emancipation

Was designed to incarcerate us.

I invented a personal opus

Within: I’ll bear my cross.

If ever my path hits a deadlock . . .

I’ll brush it off and I’ll walk on.

So don’t question me

If you won’t place your faith in me.

I perceive it’s my destiny

To fashion a lifestyle out of my misery.

You can’t alter my prophecy!

Akpan

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• Insert title here

Ain't Dead Yet

I ain’t finished with me, yet.

I ain’t a loser yet,

I ain’t giving up yet,

I would be back yet,

And I ain’t dead yet.

I ain’t a conqueror yet,

I ain’t a master yet,

I ain’t there yet,

I ain’t that dynamite yet,

Ain’t the prototype success story yet,

I ain’t a unique specimen, yet;

I ain’t fulfilled a destiny, yet.

But I will.

Just watch me

Cause, I ain’t dead, yet.

I ain’t that star piercing the dark clouds, yet,

I ain’t achieved 300 inventions with a

Handful of peanuts, yet.

I ain’t hitting newspaper headlines, yet;

I ain’t trending on twitter, yet.

I ain’t on the dream team, yet.

I ain’t wrestled a black nation from inequality, yet.

I ain’t scored my first World Cup goal, yet.

I ain't made it to the mountaintop, yet;

I ain’t slain my Goliaths yet;

I’m even short on rocks for my sling.

I ain’t on a world class record crew, yet;

I ain’t been to the ends of the world, yet;

I ain’t seen the rainbow’s end, yet,

Sheez, I ain’t got a dime to begin with.

I ain’t six feet under just yet;

I ain’t dead, yet.

I ain’t the man in the mirror, yet,

I ain’t the strength of a worm, yet;

I ain’t a prisoner-turned-prime minister yet.

I ain’t a Zwelinzima, yet;

I ain’t who I seek to be, yet,

But I ain’t tripping, you bet

I ain’t dead, yet.

I ain’t taught a soul to fly, yet;

I ain’t on top of the world, yet;

I ain’t broken a record, yet;

I ain’t slain my Egyptian, yet;

The cloud’s moving but my stuff ain’t packed, yet.

I ain’t the beauty of the earth, yet,

I ain’t the black pimpernel, yet.

I ain’t a celebrity, yet;

I ain’t the shining coal, yet;

I ain’t a Nobel laureate, yet.

I ain’t on the winning side, yet.

I ain’t the African dream, yet;

I ain’t the future of the world, yet.

I ain’t counting blessings, yet.

Guess, I haven’t written my Same Song

Recital, I gatto floss against all odds

Or I just ain’t dying on me, yet.

I ain’t that superstar, yet;

I ain’t the greatest, yet;

I ain’t written my Godfather, yet.

I ain’t History, yet,

I ain’t the voice of a dying nation, yet;

I ain’t survived a civil war to invent

The fastest calculating machine, yet;

You can bet your life on it, I ain’t done yet.

I ain’t getting me limited by popular opinion, yet;

I ain’t crippled by status quo, yet.

Even World War 3 ain’t a threat.

If before I achieve, my body hits the cemetery,

Don’t turn the page and close the book, yet;

I’m coming back after they bury me;

I ain’t dead, yet.

Akpan

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I Ain't

Inspired by Dr. Chinua Achebe

I ain’t got limbs,

But I’m a successful writer;

I ain’t got feet,

And I’m the world’s fastest runner;

I ain’t got skills, ya’ll

But I am an inventor of dimensions;

I ain’t got brains,

But I am Albert Einstein;

I ain’t got ears,

But I’m Ludwig Van Beethoven;

I ain’t got a dime,

But I’m the richest dude who ever lived.

I’m keeping my head up;

I ain’t ever giving up.

I’m tied to Destiny’s apron

This is coming straight outta the cauldron.

Ain’t got no monument erected in my name,

But I’m sure as heck making history.

I ain’t got noble blood seeping thro’ my veins

But I am royalty.

Measuring my actions

With a surgeon’s precision,

As mysterious as the eclipse,

Total like the finality of the apocalypse.

I ain’t got a face to save,

But I am a respectable personality;

I ain’t free,

But I’m a Pilgrim making stunning Progress;

I ain’t got no inspiration,

But I’m spitting poetry like Shakespeare;

I ain’t got no vision,

But my every breath fulfils a dream.

I got stranger convictions

Than the condemned with his head thro the noose,

Of better things in store:

Ignoring challenges conditions

And practically striving to even the score.

I ain’t got balls,

But I’m battling lions three times my size;

I ain’t got no locus,

But I’m situated and ready to roll;

Taking up challenges

One step at a time,

This fella gonna hit it big in his prime.

Emancipate myself from aggression,

Set my sights on redemption,

It’s time to make some changes around here.

Step out on his flyness, that’s me

As I charge the atmosphere.

I got no nuclear war heads

But I rule the world, nevertheless;

I ain’t got no strategy,

But I’m confounding adversaries from all angles;

I ain’t got strong biceps

But the worlds strapped over my shoulder;

I ain’t got no incentive,

Still I rise steady above status quo;

I’m trapped. I ain’t got a way of escape

But lookit here, I found Aladdin’s lamp.

Destiny’s child is who I be-

Descendant of a royal pedigree.

I ain’t got no sight of eyes,

But I’m putting finishing touches to my Paradise Lost.

I am the African antelope,

And this is my jungle.

My antlers positioned like periscopes

Always on alert for any rumble.

Danger is my beat,

Ducking hunter’s bullets and I’m dancing.

I’ve learned that when I believe in who I am

I’d never have to underestimate who I ain’t,

Or stand in the way of what I can

…or can’t.

Akpan

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