Day 1: If Time Was Forever

Photo Courtesy: picstexts.com

If time was forever

Could we ever get our acts together?

Could broken hearts find a place to hide?

What about those lonely tears we cried?

If time was forever

Could faith infuse our souls with power?

Could we find reason to trudge on thro?

Could we set our hopes beyond the moon?

If time was forever

How much weight could we stand up under?

Could we find strength to resist pressure?

Could memories of loved ones be treasured?

If time was forever

Could compassion still be the answer?

Could we look beyond our noses too?

And lift up the fallen in Mosul?

If time was forever

Could we believe in a life hereafter?

Could there be justice for the oppressed?

Would hope not be a pain for the dead?

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

Lovely Machine

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images

You are a lovely machine;

From the grime you bring out the sheen.

They twitch your belly button,

Punch in the coordinates,

You spit out the mutton.

You’re a self-made subordinate.

You’re a pretty toy;

A fickle human alloy,

A flesh and blood cold robot.

Their world revolves around you

Because what they want you got.

But you aint nothing but a tool.

You are a lovely machine.

For peanut you bruise your shin,

But no one will hold your heart

Even when it’s cold and dark.

All they wanna do’s use you

So you consent and play the fool.

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

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

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

Unwishes

Photo Courtesy: Alamy.com

If wishes were horses,

I could make a living out of misery

And cash on my losses.

I could shoot begging to luxury.

If I could build castles in the sky,

I could tend a garden on the clouds,

I could make the stars sigh,

And repaint twilight in shades of brown.

But wishes are fickle things;

You can’t trade one for a glass of milk,

And you can’t unwish one tragedy,

You can’t wish your rags into silk.

You can’t wish your wishes were magic,

And you can’t find one living genie;

Their memories gather dust in some attic.

Wishes are horses you win thro dealing.

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

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

Face the World

I’ve known pain so deep,

My feet’s trodden paths so steep,

I’ve gone nights without sleep,

So I face the wall and weep.

I’ve strayed wide like sheep,

Hope’s a shroud I wish I’d peep,

I lost all but one tweep,

So I face the wall and weep.

But my time will come,

That’s what I believe,

The one thing that’s sure,

When I face the world and be.

Akpan

Small Chance

Courtesy: hd-wallpapersdownload.com

If we turn we might see the sun set

On the remnant days of our short lives.

We might stand a small chance for redress.

But how could we have straddled those lies?

We and our cut up self importance;

Knowing everything but believing nothing.

We shape shift like water in a glass,

Trading dignity for hypocrisy,

We live for now denying tomorrow.

Our days are ephemeral like plumes of smoke.

We crossed bridges burned down the wrong ones,

Our tale’s cut out of a horror plot.

If we must reclaim the troves we lost,

We gatto stand up and make a choice;

We wandered far from home and purpose.

We must retrace our steps find our groove.

We can grow from concrete like a rose,

Dig deep and find new strength from our roots.

Akpan

Game Maintained

Courtesy: planwallpaper.com

It doesn’t feel the same,

Even the winds have changed,

Sun rays sometimes bleed rain,

Still my game I maintain.

I pick it up and cruise,

My rhythm still rings true,

And if the skies aint blue,

Ama keep tumbling thro.

Hope triumphs when you invest

Your time, your mind, your best

I aint gon’ fail the test,

I visualize the conquest.

If evil pours like rain,

Sailin’ the wind like pollen grain,

Ama cast off restraint,

And ride like a hell train.

Akpan

Sentient Dreams

Courtesy: hdwallpapers3d.com

My whole life I’ve been haunted

By everything I’ve ever wanted.

I have walked in its shadow,

I have fed on its life force,

I’ve worn it like a cassock.

It’s my own omen of hope.

Here I stand one as many

Knowing my life is secure

By the standards I have set,

Still that doesn’t make it a ball.

I’ve learned the choices we make

Can hold us captive like slaves,

They can turn on us like beasts

And rip us to shreds like adversaries.

So I chase after these things,

Yet I am not yielded to them.

I’ve put a leash on the beast,

But it’s got me by the helm.

It dictates my attitude

I can’t not dance to its tune.

But I mustn’t let myself down.

I must stand out from the crowd.

So I hang on with one hand,

With the other I withstand.

I’m watching out for myself

Trying for not tripping on my leg.

I am into my dreams deep;

They chase me into my sleep,

I’m rooting for who I am,

Yet scared stiff of being the man.

My entire life I’ve wanted

By the very things I’ve always haunted.

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

Mushroom Boon

I just wanna take the time to wish you blessing

The variety that proceeds from peculiar lessons,

That point where you can trade your pain for gain,

And still reach out in the rain and capture change.

Yeah, I wanna wish you a happy new year.

I’m sending this shout out cause I really care.

I pray your joys and victories will mushroom,

And may you be geared up when they find you.

Akpan

Only the Rugged Survive

This poem marks my 700th post in 7 years (2009-2016)

Afraid to wake up,

Scared witless of sleep,

Why ya’ll gatto fake up,

When the truths within sleep.

The beginning deepens

The spiteful frustration in the end.

Purposelessness weakens

Hardline juvenile diligence.

In this broad daylight nightmare

I’ve come to recognize as mine,

Life is handout welfare.

Only the rugged survive.

Akpan

Down to Struggle

In the belly of the beast,

The streets consume me like a feast.

Along comes betrayal, hate is yeast

But in no way the least.

To survive with my fist

Is not my wish

So I’m down to struggle hard before I accomplish.

Heat is rain on this rubble,

Food tastes like gravel,

Ghetto healthcare will make you marvel.

I’m a grown man

With great dreams and plans

But I’m yet to understand

Whether my future falls or stands.

Akpan