Museum Of War Crimes

Let's drive uptown
To the museum of war crimes
See what's been going down
Through the years
See if we can by it measure
The root of our fears
Let's take a walk
Down the street
Just around the corner
See who we'll meet
If we'll find a murder.

Akpan

Silver n' Gold

Silver n' gold have I much
But fools will not trade in such
They prefer purchase of blood
And demand payments in gore
Silver n' gold
If truth be told
Are rewards won for bets
By the highest number of deaths. 

Akpan

The Box

We come of age
And open the box carefully
Expecting it to explode in our face
We grow dreadfully
And then we grow in grace
We understand it's a race
And even though you help someone
Along the way
You're the only one
Who can finish your race
So you keep going
Sometimes you're crawling
But by all means
You keep going
And then life happens to us
And we hand back the box.

Akpan

Hyperbole

Hyperboles drop
From the tip of my tongue
School girls so teenaged
They should be gangraped
It's as impossible as for a child
Being the victim of an airstrike
Photos of displaced persons
As skinny as a toothpick
A demonstration so peaceful
Springing nationwide bloodshed in bowlfuls
And our chances of world peace
Is as grim as black coffee
From seeing too much of this world
My eyes hurt so much they're going to drop off.

Akpan

Goodbye Sad Songs

Goodbye to sad songs
Cha cha now so long
Hello to feel good
Music how d'you do?
I ride the soul train
Slide down glory way
Adieu sad moments
Hope hell's convenient. 

Akpan

Hell-O

Hello
Will mend a fellow
Broken yet fallow
And dig up the shallow

Hello
Will glow a shadow
And snatch a sparrow
Chased by an arrow

Hello
Lights up an halo
Come, share my pillow
Let's ride the meadow. 

Akpan

I Have Roamed Other Worlds

I have
Roamed other worlds before
I have
Stumbled on stones unseen herefor
I have
Walked blinded into concrete walls
And because I had a mound of ambition
I have
Spoken to death silence
I have
Received my reply in silence
I have
Trod forbidden lines
And came off grasping spikes
I have
Seen things
Man is not permitted to see
My vision has been weaned
I am a man of
I do not know what
Yet I'm a man after all. 

Akpan

Poetry Is

Poetry is
When feelings
Lay siege on the mind
And spin forth lines
To enshrined that mind

Poetry is
Feels expressing mysteries
Spoken or unspoken
Yet beyond reasoning

Poetry is
Translating the Divine
Through limited mortal eyes

Poetry is
Redesigning life
Digging for new life
Larger than life

Poetry is feeling
Feeling is healing.

Akpan

Love Is A Chemical Formula

Don't fall into love
Unless you back a parachute
Cause love is no longer love
But a boundless chasmic tube
This time love
Is not from above
But a mad alchemist's potion
Love is an empirical formula
A superficial alien vernacular. 

Akpan

A Wig Of White Clouds

The years wear a wig of white clouds
Riding the back trail of glory
Fervently pursued by death shrouds
Breaking out in agony
Throttling black clouds for tears
Squeezing man's heart for fears.

Akpan

Tryna

Never tryna be someone else
Now am tryna make different
It's time ama tryna be reference
Tryna be revenant
I'm tryna make an entrance
I'm tryna dig deep
Peel the skin off my seas
And tryna see a reflection of me
Whatever that may be
Tryna make mystery
Resolve a mystery. 

Akpan

Dilemma Of A Child

Dangling on threads of life;
Dilemma of a lil' child
In this age n' time
Nobody knows
And none cares for their tomorrows
Nobody feels their sorrows
You know they're here
You care not where
I wonder now how exactly they fare. 

Akpan

Time Is Now

Now is the time
I make this line
Respeak with vowels
That douse heat like
Wet towels

Now is the time
I get my shuttle
And break this hurdle
And create unique
From hardcore antique

I need no one to understand
All I need is make a stand

But I know now is the time
That ama pass this by. 

Akpan

Do What You Do

How do you do what you do?

Stand around and watch you too
It's amazing
How you knock me
Off my feet
Your faintest smile
Is a world class feat
I can't even surmise
I'm sprung in defeat. 

Akpan

Till Kingdoms Fall

Till kingdoms fall
Your wheel rolls on
You flash your guns
And toss your bombs
We are rams for the sacrifice
From youths to genocide
We have come
Like a sanctified throng
The whole lot of us
Use us for target ducks
Till all kingdoms fall
Thy will be done. 

Akpan

Egonomics

Ego
Is like an egg
Or like Humpty Dumpty
Easy to wreck
Harder to put in one piece

Ego
Will sit you on the wall
That goes before the fall
And it will get you so far
Before you land face down in mudflat.

Akpan

Songs Of Sheba

Look me in my eye
And tell me about light-
Skinned Ethiopians
And ancient Egyptians
Tell me tales of
The fallen kingdoms
Of Africa
Sing me songs of Sheba
Of explorer Queens
Who brought Africa
To the East
And the Ethiopian eunuch
Who knocked fiction
Off its high horse.

Akpan

Rusty Razor

Death and its train
Have a new name
Mere words can't explain
It's in the splattered brain
Of the face with no name
It's the minced membrane
Of the blown up slain
Death gave its train
Rusty razor blades

Akpan

Go! Walk Through The Land

Go! Walk through the length

And breadth of the land

You are Abraham

And your promise stands

High above ancient towers

Filling you with powers

If you believe

You will truly live.

Akpan

In This Place

In this place
We paint gay
A different shade
If you can relate
It's rule for the game
With joy and laughter
Pour oil on the waters.

Akpan

Don't Ask Why

Don't ask why
Sometimes tears fall through the sky
Trailing the beam of the sunlight
Don't ask why

Don't ask why
Sometimes an angel kindles your spark
Or they stab you in the dark
Just don't ask why

Don't ask why
Sometimes folks give you a smile
Sometimes feelings a mile wide
Don't ask why

Don't ask why
Sometimes life gives you blessings
Other times you get hard lessons
Don't ask why

Don't ask why
Sometimes you get a gentle push
Many times, your butt hits the bush
Just don't ask why.

Akpan

Wandering Eye

Be careful of the Wandering Eye
Be careful and don't bathe an eye
It's searching for the idle mind
And makes to corrupt your life
If you ain't figured who you are
The Eye is gonna dim your spark
It's everywhere
Nobody really knows where
It is not
You gatto take care
Or you'll be the one
Who was and who is not
Be wary of the Wandering Eye
Be careful for your mortal life.

Akpan

Dead To The World

You see
The thing about being lame is
You lost what the lay of the land is
Cause there's none can help you
Nobody but nobody but you
You ain't got rhythm
Only vain misgivings
So if you wanna be lame
Hold down your game
You see nobody's gon' help you
If you rebutting the help too/
Lame is lame
As game is game
Ain't no two-way about it
Ain't no need to shout it.

Akpan

Playing Hero

It's the same song
You folks are playing dumb
Playing hero
Won't make you a hero
You gatto get it straight
In your heart
Make sifting the trend
Your art
This is basics, the byline
Get the upshot, the bottom line
You know, when the going gets tough
You need to get your goings on
Ain't no time to gruff
But only time to grow up
You need to shift gears
Check your rear
And charge down the bear
Take living as a career
Make it an art
And that's a start.

Akpan

All You Got

Is that all you got?
And you call that a shot
Man that suck
I need something tough
A drill whose tip is diamond
One that cuts faceted rocks
Out of something rough
I don't need mock shocks
I'm done with baby talks
I need to set the record straight
I really need that hero trait
I wanna rise up
And shape confidence from
The build-up
So ama get out
Cause I come through with a shout
So if that's all you got
Best get out of Dodge.

Akpan

Zero My Position

If I buy time
Put my butt on the line
Drink up sunshine
With a hint of lime
How could I
Not be the type
Of mind
That crucifies the I
I know this slides
Just like rhyme
But I'm done with grime
I gatto reach out and,
And be somebody
I mean take this nobody
Walk down to the graveyard
Shove it in six dark feet
The whole nine yards
I need to make a man a man
Stand up straight
And stare life in the face.

Akpan

Defusing Danger

What people call danger
Is your fear
Playing manager
Of your affairs
In life, you learn to take things...
You have to judge things
By what you want
Or how you want
Things to be
You must see through
The interpretation of circumstance
Decode the circumstance in interpretation
You prepare that table
Before your enemy
You define the structure of the table
Don't give it to the enemy
Life is what you make it
Through your eyes
Not through another's eyes
It's that simple
Like a pimple.

Akpan

Just Try

I should try
And make something
Out of this life of mine
Just struggle
Beyond this big hurdle
I should make something
Out of nothing
It's fascinating
Just thinking
Just wanting
I should learn to cry
Crocodile tears
It might chase away
The mock fears
Just try
I should just try
If only I could just try...

It might make things right

Akpan

Hold

Hold on never let go
I've heard it said
From the word go
What if life jacks you up
Hacks you up
Packs you up
And ships you off
To kingdom come?
Sometimes what you heard
Doesn't make sense
When things hit a head
What you got is sense
Don't look back
Cause there's no helping hand
Reaching out to hold you
You only got you
If you can read a dream 
So you hold on
Even when you feel
Your hope is done

Akpan

Take One

Take things one at a time

So I was told before my time

Since then I been taking

Things and never have to look back

Is this the life I was

Molded for?

The life I was

Meant to run

And get crowned for?

Taking never giving back

Giving never asking back

Living ne'er expecting to die

And if I should meet death

To never bother 'bout asking whywhy?

Akpan

The Poet Speaks Of Burdens

The poet speaks of
Burdens too raw
For the heart to express in words
He fashions his rhyme
By imagination in people's eyes
He strings his meter
On the measure their heart hammers
He dips in their stream of consciousness
Like dolphins n' their bottle noses
He breaks the jar
And his mouth flings ajar
When he finds a bigger jar

Akpan

Shadow Ghosts

A day
Whose sun is moon
Will break
Into nightly gloom
Plagued with a streak
Of nightfalls
Its shadows will
Be ghosts and long
Shadows with
A semblance of life
All ready to slink
Into the night.

Akpan

I See Them

I see them
Traverse like millennial totems
Raw existential golems
They do not know the way to the city
They hold neither zeal nor promise
I see them
Contemporary emblems
Who ride in tandem

Akpan

Infection

The day you die
Is the day an infection
Pours out of the sky
And provokes earthly desolation
It harbors a blood-sucking virus
That infects your blood and corrupts
The bedrock of your opinions

Akpan

Oh, What A Feeling!

Oh what a feeling
Thrilling to the point of numbing
Feel the rush of electricity
You can't beat the vibing
All my anxiety is grinding
Oh me, oh my what a feeling!

Akpan

Paper Substitute

It's neither warm blooded
Nor is it cold blooded
It's not even blooded
Yet the race of man horde it
Hearts of alabaster
Lungful of stuffed paper
Pumping empty for blood
Paper substitute withal

Akpan

Anger Runs Danger

Anger runs danger
Anger knows the limits of danger
Anger drew the perimeter
When danger was still in a manger
Anger confronts danger
Thunder for thunder
All the while getting stronger
And danger sinks under

Akpan

Sorry, I Didn't Get That

Sorry, I didn't get that
You oughta scream louder
At this time of dayday
I'm way over my head
Flossing a different plane
Sorry, I didn't get that
Hello, you still there?

Akpan

Exodus Of Rebirth

Earth returns to ugly earth
And man to his mound of dirt
In the exodus of rebirth
Time erodes age in a breath
Young shoots pierce old trunks in death
Decay reclaims Eden's depthsdepths

Akpan

Blood In God's Face

The unborn child
Caught in the slide
Through the maternal aisle
The school kid
Shot on school premise
The girl who died
Standing vertical buried alive
That lil' child
Victim of an airstrike
The ones they impregnate
And cast away for shame
Did squirt blood in God's face.

Akpan

Lake 8

Beyond the waters of Lake 8

There is a tree whose fruits consummate

All hearts that may brave a taste

They blank out and indoctrinate

Perverse in virtue, docile in... they've

Lost all feels but abominate

Down by the waters of Lake 8,

Folks who are burdened by love vacate.

Akpan

8 = Hate

Fee Fees

When last did you feel your heartbeat?

Do you even have a heartbeat?

You touch your chest for a rhythm

But that beat ain't worth a rusty pin

For your sake they built a new cemetery

To bury the bones of child victims.

Akpan

Heart Raw

I was just lying there

On my double bed

Repainting in my head

The silhouette the moon

Had tacked to the ceiling.

Sifting through the moods

With the fingers of my dreaming,

When the world went dead

And the moon wore blood like a cloak

Death crawled into my bed

And froze my heart raw with cold.

Akpan

Weakness Of God

The tide of humanity

Floods the veins of Divinity

Like the flow of human blood

In human veins

The weakness of God

Is triggered by the human stain

Man sleeps like a log

At the visiting hours of love.

Akpan

To Ensure The World Ends By Fire

You have crammed out room for feeling

With blunt plots of war and kill kills

To ensure the world ends by fire

You pitch your aim a notch higher

Create a new kind of global warming

Sent out your dogs to rub it in.

Akpan

Graveyard Scene

If I had to paint a picture

Of the world as it really is

Brushing up the stark features

With pastels of blunt colors,

It would be a graveyard scene

Yet it would be a reality

Because it is in all our hearts

Endeared to the sum of our parts.

Akpan

Grown Deep

My heart has grown deep

From climbing words steep

Down in through the pit

Where syllables breathe

And cadence' rhythm

Sync with my heartbeat.

Akpan

Bullets

For the primary school kids who lost their 

lives in a 2015 Boko Haram attack at Potiskum

I was there when they cut that bullet

In the size of a missile midget

I was there when they rammed cartridge

And aimed as if at a partridge

I was there down at Potiskum

When they tried to make POTUS scum

I was there when they pulled the triggers

But my hands were lead like timbers.

Akpan

Catching The Moonlight

Catching the moonlight

Dancing on sunshine

Getting the mood right

Swinging on a kite

Life so sweet and fine

Com'on take a bite

And get paid in kind.

Akpan

Rendings n' Blendings

Time's rendings

Time's blendings

Time's always in a hurry

Time takes it slow and steady

Time stitches the rent fabric

That it tore up in a panic.

Akpan

When The Birds Of Eden Sang

I roamed the breadth of the land

When the birds of Eden sang

I carved the nose of the Sphinx

While Khufu raised his pyramid

I sat atop the Jordan

When the Jews possessed Canaan

I was the eye of the storm

That shaped the Nok sculptures

I am therefore I am

I pick the clouds like grains of sand.

Akpan

Too Much Of This World

I have seen too much of this world

To be swayed anymore by war

Man invents his self destruction

Yet denies himself instruction

Conscience is seared with a hot rod

Suffering children are the joke's butt

I have seen too much of this world.

Akpan

Time Taking Time Away

Time taking time away

Life brewing death's decay

The spawn of a crooked game

It's tig-a-tag all the day

Time's winged chariot whisked away

The sunrise of yesterday.

Akpan

Lest The Grave Restore Its Dead

Lest the grave restore its dead

And all things come to a head

We better bury the lead

And put this conflict to bed

Lest the grave vomit its dead

And we be the living dead.

Akpan

What Yesterday Left Behind

Yesterday has come and gone

It left behind a cannonball

What shall we do should it go off?

Where shall we hide such a gift

Away where vile hearts won't seek?

Send it forth where children sleep.

Akpan

All I Remember

That is all that I remember

The courage of true surrender

The breaking of a mind bender

That is all that I remember

And all I want to remember.

Akpan

One Thing Only

One thing only must I do

And twist the fingers of time

If life fair be and stays true

I'll race to harvest my rhyme

The stacked heap rise like balloons

Till prophecies pierce the sky

This is the one thing I'll do.

Akpan

Hope Belabors Despair

Hope belabors despair

When man's heart sets repair

To the crooked road's lay

And comforts the waste place.

Akpan

Diary

Yesterday keeps a dear diary

On the back shelf of today's library

It's accessed by mutual livery

But today would rather defer

For tomorrow would soon refer

Yesterday keeps a dear diary

Today keeps the ties and bearings.

Akpan

Hidden Ember

A hidden ember
Will set to timber
And initiate the macabre

What your eyes can't see
Can still make you bleed
And biodegrade your chemistry.

Akpan

A Place The World Forgot

This poem marks my 1000th blog post 
For a child who passed away in a Yemeni airstrike

There is a place called Love
A place the world forgot
You'll find it in a child's eyes
More strengthful than airstrikes

There is a thing called Love
It's rocket science to a world
Which embrace war over life
It lives in the heart of a child

A place we all forgot
One to which we must return
Because though the light pales
You'll find love never fails.

Akpan