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Songs of Sorrows by Kofi Awoonor
I. Dzogbese Lisa has treated me thusIt has led me among the sharps of the forestReturning is not possibleAnd going forward is a great difficultyThe affairs of this world are like the chameleon fecesInto which I have steppedWhen I clean it cannot go. I am on the world’s extreme corner,I am not sitting in the […]
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A Wake for Okigbo by Chinua Achebe
For whom are we searching?For whom are we searching?For Okigbo we are searching!Nzomalizo! Has he gone for firewood, let him return.Has he gone to fetch water, let him return.Has he gone to the marketplace, let him return.For Okigbo we are searching!Nzomalizo! For whom are we searching?For whom are we searching?For Okigbo we are searching!Nzomalizo! Has […]
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Love Cycle by Chinue Achebe
At dawn slowlythe sun withdraws hislong misty arms ofembrace. Happy lovers whose exertions leaveno aftertaste nor slushof love’s combustion; Earthperfumed in dewdropfragrance wakes to whispers ofsoft-eyed light…Later hewill wear out his temperploughing the vast acresof heaven and take it out of her in burningdarts of anger. Longaccustomed to such capriceshe waits patiently for evening when […]
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Night by Wole Soyinka
Your hand is heavy, Night, upon my brow.I bear no heart mercuric like the clouds,to dare.Exacerbation from your subtle plough.Woman as a clam, on the sea’s cresent.I saw your jealous eye quench the sea’sFlouorescence, dance on the pulse incessantOf the waves. And I stood, drainedSubmitting like the sands, blood and brineCoursing to the roots. Night, […]
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Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
The price seemed reasonable,location Indifferent. The landlady swore she livedOff premises. Nothing remained But self-confession. ‘Madam’ I warned, ‘I hate a wasted journey – I am African.’ Silence. Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully. ‘How dark?’ I had not misheard. ‘Are you […]
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A Staircase by Kuma Raj Subedi
Foreplay of desires under the bright moon-lit night Pleasures heavenly, leading to a nascent sight; Seeds planted, emerging victorious amongst the crowd Flawless sensory skills endowed. Fragile twig of a seedling- golden and green Nurtured little self, with eyesight keen; Upon the boughs, stronger and leafy Bounding on trunks, gets soon beefy. Surpassing winter, autumn […]
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Ode on a Distance Prospect of Eton College by Thomas Gray
Ye distant spires, ye antique tow’rs, That crown the wat’ry glade, Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry’s holy Shade; And ye, that from the stately brow Of Windsor’s heights th’ expanse below Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey, Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowr’s among Wanders the hoary Thames along His silver-winding way. Ah, happy hills, ah, pleasing shade, Ah, fields belov’d in […]
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Love Letter from Inside Fatherhood by Fritz Ward
Inside the trap, I spend weeks remodeling the haven you’ll haunt. Not for the joy of it, but for the wonder that keeps snapping my neck. Come December, there’s a morning when the sun slathers the bare trees in saffron and I hold you more delicately than I’ve ever held myself. See how we’ve risen […]
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The Ocean Inside Him by Rick Noguchi
After Kenji Takezo fell from a wave, The turbulence of whitewash confused His sense of direction. He breathed in When he should have Held tight. By accident, he swallowed The Pacific. The water poured down his throat, A blue cascade he could not see. He felt in his stomach The heavy life of the ocean. […]
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September Tomatoes by karina Borowicz
The whiskey stink of rot has settled in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises when I touch the dying tomato plants. Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots and toss them in the compost. It feels cruel. Something in […]
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Lord Knows by Kwame Oposu-Duku
It gets messy underneath the veilwhen the strength it takes to becan zap the moisture from your skin,and all you want is to be held to thebreast of a beautiful being and never let gowhile the beautiful people sing, ‘I hope your new soul remains pure!’ And lord knows what we loseonce we believe we […]
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Abiku by Wole Soyinka
In vain your bangles cast Charmed circles at my feet; I am Abiku, calling for the first And the repeated time. Must I weep for goats and cowries For palm oil and the sprinkled ash? Yams do not sprout in amulets To earth Abiku’s limbs. So when the snail is burnt in his […]
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The Haunted By John Masefield
Here, in this darkened room of this old house, I sit beside the fire. I hear again, Within, the scutter where the mice carouse, Without, the gutter dropping with the rain. Opposite, are black shelves of wormy books, To left, glazed cases, dusty with the same, Behind, a wall, with rusty guns on hooks, To […]
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Photograph from September 11 by Wislawa Szymborska
They jumped from the burning floors— one, two, a few more, higher, lower. The photograph halted them in life, and now keeps them above the earth toward the earth. Each is still complete, with a particular face and blood well hidden. There’s enough time for hair to come loose, for keys and coins to fall […]
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California Prodigal
By Maya Angelou FOR DAVID P—B The eye follows, the landSlips upward, creases down, forms The gentle buttocks of a young Giant. In the nestle,Old adobe bricks, washed of Whiteness, paled to umber,Await another century. Star Jasmine and old vinesLay claim upon the ghosted land, Then quiet pools whisper Private childhood secrets. Flush on inner cottage walls Antiquitous […]
POETISHES
Poetry is the spice of Rationality. It is the almost invincible vehicle of words and language.
POETISHES 