Eneh Akpan Writes: Holidays

Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Friday, January 10, 2014

Still Standing.mp3 (Poetry Recital)

Click the link above.
This is a recital of a poem I did way back 2012 for a poetry challenge called NaPoWriMo. I drafted this as a personal birthday present to eh... me. My birthday usually comes around on April 16th. But you can't be sure these days, that might change in the course of time, ugh?
Happy listening, though.

Akpan

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Mandela: Couldn't Heaven Wait?

Merry Christmas, Madiba!

One more Christmas and it may have been right.

Then they could have you and paste you like the stars to the sky.

I know there’s always a first time

So why didn’t heaven single out this moment;

Pick a perdurable person to perform a positive pilot project?

It would have felt right

And we wouldn’t whine

Yeah, it may not have hurt as much to cry.

For once, couldn’t heaven wait?

And couldn’t Christmas floor the pedal and get here ASAP?

How do we trade healing for this hurting?

Silence been pregnant since the exit of Mandela.

They couldn’t slam the door on December, that’s alright.

But couldn’t heaven for once, just hold the damn line?

Akpan

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Catching Up On Christmas

A man (or woman) had a booze overdose on Christmas eve and woke up midnight of 25th or on Boxing Day to find out what we found out already; Christmas day is over and done. But wait, it's Boxing Day so he can still salvage his situation. He picks a fast food joint and goes out to celebrate Christmas.

What if the maitre d' is an old pal who's had a not-so-good experience with our guy? Of course, they recognize each other almost immediately the maitre d' comes to take his order. What if Boxing Day becomes... well, boxing day (like the Mike Tyson kind of boxing)?

Photo: yogadragonden.blogspot.com

Boozed on the eve, slept thro Christmas and awoke on Boxing Day
Feeling like I dug out a tunnel thro Kilimanjaro.
Wished myself a Merry Christmas and got off to celebrate.
I figured I could still catch up on the fun shake up old bones.
I went out and caught a bus and rode 5 miles to port unknown,
Walked in a diner, picked a table with a view of the sea.
The menu was in french, curved like seashells and plated with chrome.
I leafed thro the tome whistling happy tunes and reminiscing
Of the good times I've had and the one I lost and ones to come.
The diner was called The River; the Calabar dish got me gone.

The maitre d' crossed the hardwood floor and spoke. Barely caught his drift.
I tore my eyes off my meal, paid him attention and fell plumb.
Earth stood still at that moment and its only sound was bereft.
I could see we met before, his hard stare was cold and oblong.
"So, we meet again." He didn't have to say it. I felt it
Like I felt what came next; this guy was an inch shy of 7 feet.
He waited tables at a diner till I got his butt fired.
The River's air morphed into a living thing, sentient and dire.
The maitre d' bared his knuckles. "Don't do something you gon' regret,"
I said, getting up to my 7'2". "I don't welsh on a bet."



Akpan

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Santa's Worst Nightmare

What if Santa had personal demons? (Of course, he does battle internal fears, everybody does... right?) But if Santa had nightmares what would be the content of his incubus? Would it be fear of his arch-enemy, Jack Frost kidnapping Santa Claus and ruining the Christmas fun? The Grinch who tries to steal Christmas? A psychotic killer turning his bullets lose on kids? If Santa had nightmares what would be his worst? Read on and try to see if you can solve that piece of jigsaw puzzle on your own.

And while you're at it, try to picture a Santa's grotto void of laughing, joyful kids at the peak of the Christmas season, if you can. If I was Santa, I know that would scare me titless.

The refrain comes in after each verse. I bet you can do that on your own so I didn't bother repeating 'em.

Photo: babybitznpartypieces.com

'Twas the night before stuff got awry
And all things beautiful grew tawdry
The season took a bad turn and went gory
Need I say things fell out in one big hurry?

How still I saw them lie
Permanently immobilized in my mind's eye.
The endless column stretched from East to West
I gasped as my breath caught in my breast.
What could this be?
Who is this beast?
For one moment, I heard my heartbeat
The rhythm disjointed and out of sync.

The moanful creak of the derelict carousel
Carved a ring of finality like doom's peculiar tassel.
These kids, I wish they had a childish sort of carousal,
One fine night, without their parents' counsel.
Darkness is fallen.
Silence is omen.
Carols have been altered to dirge,
Deserted grottoes placed on the verge.

What's the point of a universe full of tall people
When who you really need are the small people?
Who stole children voices, that quaint magical dialect?
Who robbed the season of music and a chance to recollect
Good, genuine memories?
How do I reminisce?
What was the weapon-a gun, sword or deception?
Did the Pied Piper make a visitation?

It's empty! Empty! The whole world is empty!
The sound in the silence is deathly prophecy.
I close my eyes and dare not open it for fear
Of what may come upon the midnight drear.
The crows are flying.
The wind is sighing.
I think I'll stop by some field and pick the new blossoms;
Never dreamed I'd witness the day kids abhor Santa Claus!


Akpan

Thursday, December 13, 2012

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

Monday, December 19, 2011

Card #2: Lil’ Sip Of Magic ft. Boyz II Men

Boyz II Men

He's looking for Mom but she's not there

Kids are looking for reindeer in the air

Boyz II Men,

Why Christmas

I dare to let my dreams reach out to you,

Full of hope, shuttled by love.

I dare to count the sparkle in the eyes of the morning dew,

‘Cause I feel your wake in the coming of the dawn.

Everybody is born with a piece of heaven,

A journey stretching a million miles

Hidden within first, a crawl then, a step

And, inevitably, every wing glides.

Sometimes, we rise to the occasion,

At other times, we rise above

our situations.

But whichever way it works for you,

If you’ll let it work for you;

If you see Christmas as a state of mind,

And not a date, you’ll get all the Christmas you need,

A smile and a sip of magic to boost your flight.

More than your baskets can carry.

Eneh

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas Card: Poems for Christmas

"Christmas Card" is sort of a Christmas fantasy thing for me. I'm collaborating with my favorite artistes; Legends in their own rights to create "Unforgettable" Christmas poetry.

Eneh

Related articles
Christmas Inspiration! (uniquelymadebymelissa.wordpress.com)
A Redneck Christmas (deaconjohn1987.wordpress.com)
Christmas & Social Media (dreamgrow.com)
Christmas Cards (organizeyourstuffnow.com)

A Christmas tale (paulocoelhoblog.com)