Kitsa G.

The homely Greek lady who sheltered kids from
war-torn Syria in her home. The children fondly
call her, Kitsa Granny.
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR video

Can I call you Kitsa Granny?

Would I be a bother

If I wet your shoulder

With tears that make me shudder?

Will you push me until I swing high

And catch hope as it flutters like a butterfly?

Ring up war and say, 'Eat your shame!'

There's no home bests Kitsa Granny's embrace.

We have reasons to call you Granny

You're family we never knew we had

Blood that mended these broken shards

You've made us the sum of the part.

Akpan

Strange Odyssey

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Let me hold your hand

It'll be all I need to stand

I'm not one to make demands

Still I'll go with you to strange lands. 

Akpan 

Smiling Maya

She always wears a smile
Like she knows everyone counts
She thrives in the land of exile
Maya will never wear a frown.

Akpan

Tapes

For Assad. Tyrant of Syria.

As sad

As bad

As mad

There are tapes to prove that

You looked sad

When they put you on TV

You looked mad

When they pulled out your CV

You did not take your oat

Before you took that oath

Or you would not turn your office

Into a blood-letting orifice.

You responded to calls for interviews

But would not share your people’s views

You won’t sit down to talk it out

But made up time to run your mouth

You sent your phoenix

Burned the masses to ashes

Turned on your gimmicks

And blew up their asses

            “It wasn’t me.”

So you said.

            “It was him!”

So we heard.

“He’s respected military.

They fuck all night in malefactory!”

So you turned him loose

A mass murderer

You the asswipe fool

And a cobra, you are

As sad

As bad

As mad

There are tapes to prove that.

Akpan

  

Smoke Up

You can have a cigarette
If you smoke
Like chimneys no regret
Get it tokin.
Have a seat, relax
Throw your feet n' max
Rewind n' unwind
You're fine git your shine.
But let me ask you
What's on the menu?
Do you keep wake to
Think over the blues
Half the world's going through?
News of grave kabooms?
Go on, smoke up
But who does the math?
Ever get hung up
On who bells the cat?
When they throw a war
Who gets the crumb?

Akpan

Day 23: No Mo

Internally Displaced Kids
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

Will there ever be peace?

Will we mend the broken piece?

Is there hope beyond this

Place of conceit and disease?

(Cause) We can’t go home no mo.

Death has never been timely.

We walked into it blindly.

Worked up our fears sublimely.

Now we treat doom resignedly.

(Cause) We can’t go home no mo.

Akpan

Foot Soulja

For all the aid workers who lost their lives during a
Boko Haram bombing of a refugee center.
Photo Courtesy: Youtube.Com

So glad we had you when we had you;

You pulled in a harvest in the desert,

Somehow you sprinkled a glitter of dew

On the dunes in the threat of a duster.

So glad we found you where we found you;

Explicitly ready, willing and quite able.

We asked for a yard and you walked a mile,

You came with open arms and a smile.

So glad you gave up what you gave up;

You wrapped warmth round a cold shoulder,

Built a family from the ruins of war;

You’re a sister, a brother and, a foot soulja.

Akpan

Moving Mountain

Aid Workers in Nigeria
Photo Courtesy: premiumtimes.com

Nobody but you could stick out your neck

Into the death zone, to save from the wreck

Souls whose fate tottered on the lip of doom.

Nobody but you could throw out your plans

And snatch a burning twig with your bare hands.

Then inject healing into bleeding wounds.

There is no here without your dare.

Your hope flowed like a fountain.

In the boom your voice rang out clear.

You took charge like a captain.

Earth stooped as you relieved the scared,

And that’s cause you’re a moving mountain.

Nobody but you could trample neglect

Into the ground and, offer these rejects

Solace and warmth, in the heat of battle.

Nobody but you could contend with the tower of

Terror, and step up your game to favor

The displaced then, offer rest for their troubles.

Akpan

We Can't Go Home Anymore

IDP Girl in Nigeria
Photo Courtesy: blogs.cfr.org

We can’t go home anymore.

We docked our ship on a strange shore,

And turned our backs on first love.

We tossed it all for the bombs

And wandered far from native soil,

But home is all we long for.

We buried our hearts in mass graves;

We left ‘em there for keepsakes.

Home aint what it used to be,

So we seek what the lost seek

When home is no longer home.

We’ll return someday we hope

Yet now we can only wait

Cause home has been laid to waste.

Even though we yearn for it,

We will not set foot within,

And tho weeds outgrow our crops—

What good’s food to a cooked goose?

And if beasts occupy our courts,

And rats feast on our thatched roofs,

We’ll survive; life does go on.

We can’t go home anymore.

Akpan