Poem #1287: A Different Cloth

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR 

The most important thing

Is not to give in

To defeat

Or fall in the arms of

Hopeless dejection.

Destiny isn't a handout

And you can choose not

To feel letdown

You made it out

You were cut out

For greatness no doubt

Rejection is a lie

Boost that bark with a bite

There's a job title

With your name on it

No time to stay idle

Set your mind on it

This is a diff level of warfare

Not a personal affair

You've been cut

From a different cloth

Keep your head up

And never ever give up.

Akpan

Poem #1283: Magartu Dedefi, Esq.

Magartu lost her sight as a toddler. At age eight,
she was forced to flee her home in Ethiopia.
She settled in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya
where she excels her peers in academics.
She dreams of becoming a lawyer.
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

And still we see her rise

Walking on the sunshine

Her face lit up in a halo

That forecasts tomorrow

In live and living color

From war

To take the world

She blind

But she ain't no beggar

She looks just fine

And all set to be a lawyer

Her big dreams

Rattle the glass ceiling

She won't balk

In the face of competition

With her peers

Who ain't visually impaired

She lost her sight

But found the fight

For people deprived

Of their rights

As a platform to thrive

And her smile says it all

She knows she has it all

On her own terms

She wants it her way

No freebies, on equal terms

She'll rest her case.

Akpan

Poem #1272: Commonsensikal

Putin bombed maternity hospital in Ukraine
with pregnant women and children still inside.
Photo Courtesy: Rush Hour/Facebook

Putin
Put in
Loads of bombs
To suck blood
Like a vampire
Vladimir
The modern day
Dracula
A total disgrace
Of a leader
Fear of America
Choked your jugular
And you retaliate
With lethal repercussions
You tossed a shoe nail
And you lost
The game
Built a military base
At the border
With Ukraine
You shoulda
Latvia
Estonia
Both joined NATO
And your react was zero
No offence
But common sense
Seems a little bit of luxury
For your specie.

Akpan

Poem #1264: One Point Five

In just 10 days of the conflict
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

10 days

1.5 million people

News breaks

Raising follicles

Dread

Crawls all over my flesh

Like a million ants

I rinse my glass

As thirst like a blast

Burns my lungs

So lost for words

Where's the love

When it pours

Stone cold hate

Like golf ball-sized hail

Devil having a field day

Batting hail

Against our pain

Ukraine! To Ukraine!

Arise humanity

Defeat

Is not an option

Bond passion

To compassion

Squash this senseless war

Like a bug.

Akpan

Kayak Khalifa

Khalifa is a Syrian refugee who participated in the Tokyo
 Olympics🗼as a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT).
Photo Courtesy: UNHCR

Taking risks gave me hope

When the only hope I had

Was the shadow of a home

Blown from hell to breakfast

Hope that cut a path

Thru troubled ravine waters

And washed up to me

In the form of a light narrow

Boat that took me out kayaking

On turbulent waters to tomorrow

I used to be the King of sorrow

I begged, stole and I borrowed

Every squeeze of hope

I could scrounge from the barrow

Here I am

A self-made man

Cutting legacies

Into the skin of canyons

Building concrete dreams

On waters with my new companion

Painting bouquets with the crayon

Of my paddle like the staff of Aaron

I'm charting a path

Over troubled waters

With my kayak

And it's all that matters

This is where I wanna be

I am a free spirit

Wheeling the forces of nature

Like ancient Inuits

Making live sculptures

With every stroke

An emphasis of hope

That echoes my heartbeat

A thumping will to live

Taking risks

Brought me hope

When all my chances

Were nothing but zero.

Akpan

Girl On Fire

Afghan refugee Saleema Rehman beat the odds to become
the first female refugee doctor in her Pakistani community.

Anywhere, anyday 🌄

Set a date📆

Name the place 🏞️

And I'll bring my flame ✴️

The world is my runway 🛩️

Cause I locked this game ⚽

When I'm unloading babies🍼

Holding twenty o' these daisies 👰🏾👼👰🏼

On daily basis 🌅 🌃

Pimping their faces 👶🏽👶👶🏻

Hogging their personal spaces 🚼

If that ain't the sweetest phases 🤸

There's nothing better than that 🌋

From fleeing Afghanistan💣

To seeking asylum in Pakistan ☮️

Now making my last stand🕴️

As a female pediatrician 💊

The first ever refugee Afghani🥇

With a degree in medicine 🎓

I live for this one thing 💎

This is my captivity 🔗

This also my liberty 🔓

I want to serve humanity 👥🤰🏿

Fueled by empathy💉

It's my escape from depravity 😧

This girl is so wired⚡

She'll reset the weather in Tahiti ☁️

This girl is on fire🔥

Akpan

Evening Falls On Lukwangulo

I'm gon' light up the world

Like a thunder ball

This lil' smile of mine

I'm gon' let it shine

Like I don't care about war

Or don't give 'bout the desolation

That racks my private corner

I ain't withering like wet paper

I am not the victim

I am the killer

I'm staying positive

Traversing the bitter

To so much better

I'm gon' shine my smile

And light up the sky

I'm gon' lift my eyes

And soar like a kite

I am not the victim

I wrote the verdict

I am the killer

I am not a squealer

I won't bow to hopelessness

Ama take my somebodyness

And bulldoze a path

To a brand new start.

Akpan

Kabul Kamikaze

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR
The Taliban reportedly denied having anything to do
with the Kabul explosions and I'm not arguing that but
I'm wondering what they would have done about it had America
not made a move to deal with the mastermind of the attack.
Is the Taliban prepared to protect life and property, at all costs?

All freedom fighters

Are automatically, rebels

Yet prospects can be a lot brighter

If you turn up the decibel

And turn down this Babel

Know that any legit revolution

Will be branded rebellion.

And there can be no resolution

While you ignore the shedding of blood

Lift up your eyes towards Kabul

And see your folks go kaboom!

Where is the sense of security?

Where is any show of empathy?

You who has tasted freedom

In your deepest, darkest night

Mustn't bow now to intimidation

Dark don't scare candlelight

Despair submits to hope

Arise and take back your home,

Occupy Afghanistan!

Freedom is not free

Lay it on thick on the Taliban

Pump your fist

For the freedom of the woman

For the education of your kids

For the choice of the man

Do I need to draw you a diagram?

Behold the flogging of your maid

Cause she won't become a masquerade

A riot is the language of the unheard

Keeping quiet gets you dead

You have a chance to earn

Your life back if you face it

Than playing hide-and-go-seek

Or it's farewell to peace

Things are no longer at ease

Don't take the heat lying down

Make 'em give account

Make 'em make everybody count

No one will blame you

If you play the fool

But will you live on your knees

Or rather die on your feet,

With the possibility of thriving

On your feet thrown in the mix?

Nobody loves a coward

The time is now

March onward!

Do it now.

Akpan

I Am Not Osama

Please Donate visit: https://unh.cr/611ce1e8124

I am not Osama

I didn't topple The Twin Towers

To put Afghanistan

On the world map

I am not the Islamist,

A muslim fundamentalist

What I mean is

I am not a terrorist

And I do not deserve any

Of the things happening to me

Because I am not Osama

I didn't bring on my dilemma

Because I am not the Taliban

A cousin to Al Qaeda

That's why I live in absolute fear

As imminent death draws near

Because I am not Osama

Who implicated Afghanistan

But I am Afghanistan

Who betrayed Osama

And welcomed the Allies

Yet once again, Talibanised,

The world has abandoned me

To the hands of those who mistreat

Me and profit from my misery,

To the fate of a hasty retreat,

War rapes my land with impunity

I am not Osama

I am not a mad man

Enslaved by thoughts of

World domination

Who triggered a crisis of

Significant proportion.

Please, cut the blame game

I'm in dire need of critical aid

I am Afghanistan

I am a million children

Crying out from the bleachers

A circumstantial evidence

Of a game of role reversal

Gone awfully wrong.

I need humanitarian support

While all hope is not lost

I am Afghanistan

I am the voice of the free woman

Caught up in the trap

Of being married off to claptrap

I am a man

Who's lost every reason to stand

Every claim

To earn my daily bread.

I am Afghanistan

Don't turn your back,

Don't color me bad.

Akpan

Water Rising Fast

Photo Courtesy: unhcr.org

We couldn't go back

Water was rising fast

Running right up to my chest

I felt totally helpless

I tossed caution, I fled

With a stove and gas cylinder

I'd thought the worst was over

When I escaped Myanmar.

Six refugees have been killed

Precious lives spilled

Like beans

Here I am stuck under a thatched

Roof that leaks

Cause we couldn't go back

A thousand more

Lost their homes to flash floods

Scrawny belongings washed away

Reminders of shame

Now inflicting pain

In harrowing detail

Thru a twisted absentia

We couldn't go back

Prisoners of inertia

Whose patience bust a crack

Washed away

We wish it was our pain

Washed away

Wishing it was the shame

Washed away

Wish it to war getting us displaced

Washed away

Wishing it was yesterday

With its graphic detail

We couldn't go back

Not to Myanmar its sacked

We couldn't go back

Not to our makeshift shack

There's water swelling off the ground

As from our eyes, water tumbles down

We can't seem to escape our past,

How long can we last?

The water's rising fast.

Akpan