My Words Will Be

My words will be

In time of need

In a scarcity of peace

My words will be a flowing stream

My words will be a refuge

To contain incoming tide of refugees

When silence has no appeal

That’s when my words will be

Face danger and recover

Cause my words will be a tower

In a tunnel of despair

My words will be repair

My words will be onion

That you may peel n’ make pinion

And when you chance that cliff

My words will be relief

And belief

Will sprout from that simple creed

My words will breed

When the going gets tough

And you’re held down by stuff

My words will be enough.

Akpan

Daddy

My father, The Rev. A .S. Akpan (!940-1995)
Passed on First of July, 1995

To catch a falling star

Is beyond a poet’s art

Still I’ll knot a handful of notes

From the string of my broken tones

Make strung chords rise like octaves

And pitch for the comet’s tail

If life was a fairytale

Who’d be the fairy godfather

But you?

If I was Aladdin

Who’d be the genie of the lamp

That’s stays true?

You are every father’s envy

An oasis of raw healing scenes

A star that keeps falling falling falling

I reach for you there

Where men cease from care

I long to catch a falling star

And bathe in the rain of sparks

An lift my face to taste your charm

Sometimes I catch on to your grace

Like vibes from radio waves

There’s nothing better than that

You do not sit in your armchair

                                  anymore

And tell me of the Savior

Who took my place on a cross;

You showed me the worth of my words

Taught me to stay creative

Much’s been said ‘bout fathers

Daddy, Daddy

You best that.

Akpan

Legacy

After memory's portraits fade

and time's due is paid

after age's tomb is laid

and death no longer raid

After pyramids decay

after worth is arcane

and tides won't rise like Cain

and moons crumbled like cake

After oblivion gains fame

and waste is name of the game

after political campaign

and blatant lies hit the train

My words will remain.

Akpan

What's the Meaning of Akpan?

It's a two-syllabled name,
Got a web-sustained fame
As a search engine hit,
But that in itself is ironic
Because Akpan spells V.I.P.

When you talk title-names,
Akpan has got game.
First name of first sons
Akpan is the Ibibio firstborn.

What's the meaning of Akpan?
First it's a dead ringer for Arkham.
What does Akpan mean?
It reps persons, places n' things.

Akpan is the most celebrated person,
Akpan means the most exceptional thing;
Akpan is the most remarkable place.
Akpan means, on the low down, the ace.

Akpan

Rule of Ku

Ku v. (coo) An Ibibio word which means don't.

You may swim a river uphill
And ride a chariot on the wind
You may tap dance on red-hot coals
And scream like banshees hi on dope.

But whatever you do
You don't ignore the force in you.
Ku says believe in who you are,
Ku says listen to your heart,
Ku says no matter what you do
Ku says the answer is in you.
Just before you play the fool (stop),
Remember the rule of Ku (and don't).

You don't need wings to touch the sky
The answer lies in heaven's eyes.
Ku (don't) depend on things you may see,
It takes skill to lead from within.

Akpan

Dimensions

Photo: Somewhere on the internet

Take me to a dimension

Where my motives are voiced with passion,

Take me to where I’m known as I am.

Take me to the revelation of me.

Talk to me about the inner man,

Open my eyes wide, make me see

The secret things that give definition

To the little things that make up the whole.

Touch my essence, make the weak strong;

Lead a stomped man into the fold,

To where I belong and I’m accepted.

Take me in your arms bring me home.

You’re all I’ve ever coveted.

Take me to where I’d see your face instead.

Akpan

Winner Take All

Mark Henry
Photo Courtesy: tjrwrestling.net

You shudda killed me

When you had the chance.

Shudda slit my throat

And sealed the deal fast.

But you left me bruised.

You left me bleeding,

But I’m still breathing.

You shudda done me

When you had me down.

You only hurt me

But I’ve come around.

You shudda known me,

I can drown a crowd.

You can’t take me out,

It’s too late, boy scout.

Stand forth like a man.

Let’s settle old scores.

Guess you lost your chance,

So, it is winner take all.

Akpan

Question I Am

Internally Displaced Child, Nigeria
Photo Courtesy: newsweek.com

Will I ever find that someone who is

The answer to the question that I am?

That person who is the meaning of me

Of myself, who can make my feet stand firm?

Will I ever find that specialty in

Out of the way places or by wishful

Thinking? This is someone I gatto be.

Will I be fulfilled when my search is thro?

I’m busting with questions where’s the reply?

I gatto be the dream that haunts me;

Will I find truth in the black of my eye?

When he comes will he be on the real?

But if he’s the answer that I seek,

Will he not make the parts of me sync?

Will I ever find that someone who can

Offer straight answers to the question I am?

Akpan

The Road Most Traveled

Courtesy: rabbisacks.org

One road forked at the intersection

Like a Y with its own wherefore.

There, perched on the tail of the twin lanes,

Drenched to the leather of my skin,

I was found yet lost in the chance game.

But it wasn’t as tough as it seemed;

I’ve been here before and I’ll be back.

My whole life has been shaped on this track,

I’m versed in it like the lines on my palm,

Every gravel, pothole and streetlamp.

There’s nobody knows me like the road.

If I should stray, the road will find me

And hold me and point me towards home.

I’m always on the road even in

The darkest part of the darkest cove.

It’s beaten its path thro an alley;

I rode its trail right thro a valley,

On the road, flung on the wings of love,

I foray into a strange matchless world.

I’ve caught thorns with the sole of my feet,

But the road’s been faithful thro the heat.

Even if prospects turn bleak I’ll go.

Two roads, two destinations, one me;

The road most traveled takes me home.

Akpan

Somebody Like Me

I don’t want what you have.
I don’t want who you are.
I wanna go places somebody like me
Ought not to have access to,
I wanna try for feats somebody like me
Is not expected to amount to,
I wanna aspire to levels somebody like me
Should never claim the right to rise to.

I don’t want what you offer.
I don’t covet what you prefer.
I just wanna dream dreams somebody like me
Wouldn’t waste a wink to dream,
I wanna walk paths that for somebody like me
Would be considered trespassing,
I wanna think big thoughts folks like me
Are too bird-brained to create mentally.

I don’t care how you feel.
I don’t dig what you dig.
I just wanna do stuff studs like me
Would fetch a scream for trying for,
I wanna make it to the mountaintop.
I wanna take charge of my destiny.
I wanna ride the neck of the wind.
I wanna break rules unlike somebody like .

Akpan

Mma Mi

My Mama, the Deaconess Eka Akpan celebrates one more

year on God's Earth today. Happy Birthday Mma.

"Mma mi" (/hmm ma me/) is Ibibio for My Mama.

Love needed no reason,

To set me up with a special person;

Love’s only reason was love itself,

Mma, having you translates as blessed.

I’m gonna write my manger story on you;

A prose on how faithful love beat the odds.

Wise men found a star on the night of the first Yule,

Mma, you are that ancient star in human form.

You were my anchor when I stormed thro a fog,

Your voice was the oil that stilled my troubled sob,

No room in the inns Mma, your heart was my pod:

A tested refuge from the cattle of this cold sod.

Akpan

No Questions Asked

Happy Birthday to my Mama and a great woman -
Deaconess Eka Akpan

Mma

If that name ain't the sweetest thang like a lump of sugar.

I was going to say you taught me everything I ever knew

But then I reflect on the times you broke me off the horns of a dilemma

And it's like damn near impossible to make who you are more beautiful.

Mma

Your love is like a story that keeps unspooling long after the tome is closed.

My heart explodes with untamed emotion but words fall just shy of expression;

How do I even begin when you are my beginning, I'm lost in your shadow.

My affection knows no bounds; it's as wide as the breadth of the ocean.

Mma

Just the thought of you sets an avalanche in motion,

Your pure devotion takes my breath away, like a blast of golden gas.

If I had to do this over, if I had a choice in my own conception;

Mma, I’ll root for you and I’ll do it in a heartbeat no questions asked.

Akpan

From a Cell 8

The 8-foot cell that was Mandela's home on Robben Island.

One man

(And he was no ordinary man)

Had a vision and moved the motion to take a stand

The self-named lords tagged him bad gone mad

And shipped the hell-raiser off to rot on an isolated island.

But his was a story that couldn’t be caged behind metal bars.

One man

(I said he wasn't no ordinary man)

Opened his mouth to speak and his voice rose beyond his cell bars

And the nuance of his message held steady thro out every land;

A song of infinite hope that screamed the line, if you believe you can.

The man died but the memories of him live in the legacy of his plan.

One man

(You know, he was no ordinary man)

Learned that courage ain't in the strength of your arms

But triumph over the stuff that cripples your very heart.

The life he led drove the highpoints home like nail piercing plank,

His words reassure us like stars guiding travelers in the dark.

Akpan

Lethal Verbs

Don't ever let nothin' hold you back.

I can’t be broken

Not by a speck of struggle.

That's what I call this entire token.

I am the majesty of the rubble.

Even though I came up hard,

Through practice I learned nothing

Is ever too hard

To subdue. 'Specially to him

Who's got somethin' up his sleeves.

No matter how a friend deceives

I'm gonna pick up the pieces,

Count my losses

Beat the dust off my butt

Then aim right back for the top.

Nuthin will ever take me apart

Cause I'm a man weaned from the heart.

I'm stuck on my dreams

Like a dot of stain

On bleached white sheet.

I'm as persistent as a toothache

And you can bet, I won't bend to the heat.

Akpan

Superhero

Dad passed away on first of July, 1995
He is my very own superhero. This poem is to his memory.

You stirred a flare for reading in me.

I recall crawling into the confines of your private library

Hounded by classics assuming names tricky to remember

Sometimes I call up images of your cloth-bound hardcovers;

‘On Aggression;’ ‘Try Anything Once;’ and ‘The Governor.’

On every first page a date underlined your peculiar signature.

I still picture you waving ‘English Without Tears’ in my view.

It’s hard to visualize I rode your backtrail without meaning to

Most amazing of all is how you honed my obsession for books

Makes me proud I was raised on books by an uneducated you.

I wish I could paint your face on cosmic canvas

Convey to the world your unique colors.

I wish I could spray your qualities over the horizon

In smoke Dad, may I do the sweet honors?

I got this feeling where my heart resides

That when we meet again away from this body

I’d have earned the privilege to look into your eyes

And say simply but firmly, “I am my father’s kid.”

Meanwhile, I hope it would delight you to know

That I have etched your face on everlasting stone.

Akpan

A Toast

I raise a toast to the man who bent the impossible to his own will;

I give a standing ovation to him who threw himself into shaping me;

I declare you a father of fathers and hoist your fame on a plinth;

I raise my glass to all you stood for; ideals taught me from the crib.

Talons of time cannot claw the memory of you off my mind.

And since you did not quit on me I return the favor in kind.

If I live four score and seven years I’ll give each moment in time

To celebrate a gift that was the sum total of divine and sublime.

Akpan

Phenomenal Man

My Father: The Phenomenal Man;
husband, father, uncle, brother, grandfather

I like to think of you as my very own superhero,

As the one who had my back from ground zero.

You had a charm about you it made you a special person;

A quality that set the strobe light on you lost in a crowd.

I’d love to hear the timbre of your voice while I give a listen;

The man I lost dishing the man I am the lowdown.

You commanded respect so crystal folks perceived it.

You were a gift to this world and I only wish they knew it.

I’ve always wondered what it takes

To stamp a foot in the prints you left behind.

It never fails to amaze me how you raised the stakes

When you presented the gift of your champion mind,

You had the inbuilt timing which made your moves flawless.

You knew the right words and the fact made me speechless.

You set a standard from which a young dream was launched.

You didn’t assert perfection but you gave it all your best shot.

Akpan

IntShoWriMo 2015: Day 4: An Eternity of Nights

You went to bed like any other night and were out like a log in minutes. But when you woke up, you weren’t at home. You were in a car (that wasn’t yours), wearing clothes (that weren’t yours), and holding a bag full of money (that wasn’t yours). Suddenly, a police car turns on its lights to pull you over. What do you do? — WritersDigest.Com

Write about an ancient gypsy curse. — Writing.Com

Word Count: 2k+

Akpan

Day 30: Kensinsi

"Kensinsi" (pronounced /ken sin see/) in Ibibio/Efik (a Nigerian dialect)
translates "forever."

By the way, that's not yours truly in the image above. It's Dad and Mom
who my brothers and I fondly call "Sir & Mma." 1st of July marks 20 years
of Sir's passing. I thought I'd start off celebrating his life early this year.

Kensinsi

You are a never-ending story,

You bought my respect thru the dreams you made real.

Kensinsi

I dedicate my life to illustrate the lil things

You set in motion which turned a simple life extraordinary.

Kensinsi

You are my hero, my shero; you taught me to believe

So I can stare failure between the eyes and still find reprieve

And it's always been that way with you

And me as a kid running around without a clue;

You are the reason I always managed to pull thru.

It will take kensinsi to show I appreciate you.

That's why I owe you,

Kensinsi

Ain't nobody gon' take the place reserved for you, kensinsi;

In my heart I raised two thrones and crowned you King and Queen.

It's all about you can't you see?

With me and you it's kensinsi.

I love you kensinsi nsinsi. (Forever and ever)

Akpan