Tag Archives: poetry

“Afrocality”: A Nigerian Expression

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Image: Ross, Denise. FELA! Dec. 6, 2010. Web. Apr. 20, 2015

I am an African
I am an African woman

Ile Ife, apoti ese Olodumare, and the cradle of civilization

I love my skin
I love my African skin
I love my dark, African skin
I love my hair
I love my thick, comb-breaking hair 😂

I love my accent
I love my thick, very African accent
I love language
I love my beautiful African language

“Orisa bii iya, ko si laye”

I love my parents!
Oh yesss! My “too African for their own good” parents 😂😂
Yes, the parents who whooped my sorry behind with no mercy 😂😂
The struggle of every African child

Oooh I love my names
I love my perfect African names
Oluwatoyin, Omolajipe, Adetoun, Mojisola, Temitope, Ikuomola

FELA! The abami eda himself, who taught me to revel in,
And celebrate my Africanness

I love my dance
I love my fire African dance
I love my music
I love that sensuous tune your hips unconsciously sway to
Yes, that Afro-beat, that original Afro-jam

I love my African heritage
I love my African way
I love my African culture
I love my African food
I love my African attire

Ibadan; the ancient city
Eko Ile; home of the greats

I love my Africanized English
I love my Africanness
I love that the first thing you notice about me is my Africanness
Because before anything else, I am first and foremost an African woman

Ile Ife– An ancient town in Southwestern Nigeria
Apoti Ese Olodumare– Translation: God’s footstool
Orisa bii iya, ko si laye– Translation: There is no deity in existence that can be compared to a mother
Fela– Nigerian musical legend, and political activist
Abami Eda– Strange/mysterious creature
Ibadan– An ancient city in Southwestern Nigeria
Eko Ile– An indigenous name for Lagos, a state in Southwestern Nigeria, and the commercial capital of the country.

Vengeance

I feel like nothing will ever be the same again
I feel like I’m leaving you behind in a past life;
Shutting you away in the history books
I feel like I’m breaking, I’m broken, but you don’t really care

I feel like I’m foolish, I was foolish, to even think…
I haven’t cried since, I thought it would just go away
How wrong I was…
You stand there each day in the shadows haunting and mocking me
You take delight in watching me sink deeper and deeper into myself

I suddenly remember to cry,
I don’t even wish for you anymore
I just wish each of your nerves snaps, for every tear you’ve made me cry…

Reasons

That feeling of joyful anticipation; opening up the presents on your birthday or at Christmas, hoping to find your first Rolex, your first phone, your first game console…

That rush of unexplainable delight; your first paycheck, your first million, your first concert, your first date, your first kiss…

That unbelievable experience; your first flight, your first bungee jump, your first time in a pool, your first day at school, your first crush, your first love, your first heartbreak…

That mind-blowing and awe-filled day; your wedding day, the day your first child is born, the day your son takes his first steps, the day your daughter utters her first words…

That moment that simply causes your heart to begin racing faster than Lewis Hamilton in a Grand Prix; the day he goes on one knee, the moment she says I do, your wedding night…

 

And through all the moments and even all the “firsts” to come, there those unforgettable people who will always be there;

The souls who inspire, motivate and challenge you daily in one way or the other…

Those who have stayed and will stay through the good times and through the impossible times…  

 Your family, your best friends and those loved ones who couldn’t make it to the party physically, but are there in spirit.

These are the heartbeat and pulse of the party that is life and the very reasons for which I am eternally grateful to God…   

Tears (The Poem)

All was once perfect,

All was once beautiful,

All was once exact,

Or was it all a facade?

 

Love was once true

So true and so pure

Art by the greatest maestro

 

Faith, trust, devotion

You gave without restriction

But hate, contempt and deceit

Was all you gained in return

 

Your love betrayed,

All you had, forsaken

 

And at the end of it all,

Only your memories survive,

Marked by the scars you have

And the tears that you have shed

My Admission…

It’s a tiny bird,
A tiny spark,
A tiny twitch,
Unnoticed at best.

It’s ignorable at first,
Then like an electric shock, it awakens something in you
Like venom, it spreads round your mind at lightning speed
It feels like a delusion; you begin to notice things you normally would not have

It drives you crazy,
It makes you feel great,
It opens up your entire soul,
It rudely rids you of your affected air and pride

You hate it,
You love it,
Then you hate it some more
But you end up loving it the more

We have all had our fair shares of bad experiences,
But the truth goes without saying,
Love was never meant to be glitch free,
But definitely worth all the trouble you go through

After all, for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to redeem us by giving his life for ours

Love gives, without asking, and never stops giving
Even when the recipient seems like a lost cause
Many of us are witness to that…

Have a beautiful day! ♡

Dawn…

I will lift up my eyes to the hills
From whence cometh my help?
My help cometh from the Lord
Who made heaven and earth

He says He will not suffer my foot to be moved
He that keepeth me, He will not slumber nor sleep

For the Lord is my keeper
The Lord is my shade upon my right hand
For the sun shall not smite me by day, nor the moon by night

And He shall preserve my soul

All of my help cometh from the Lord!

Unfaithful

The sun had scorched, the drought was etched
Deep within, upon the surface of my core
Desert, my land was dry and parched
Deprived of drops, let alone a downpour

I cried for days unend, oh spirits hear my plea
But all in vain it seemed, on deaf ears they fell
Resilient and armed with hope, I’d simply just watch and see
And rain would arrive to quench, and put out this heat of hell

My prayers were heard; at last I did rejoice
The rain had come to cleanse, the land and to repair,
Restore, renew my lush green; yes, this had been my choice
My love, the rain had returned, it’s beauty colored the air

It poured, unwilling to stop; a good thing I had thought
But soon they came with tales; restriction, disruption, destruction!
Detractors, I screamed in pain; to ruin a love for which I fought
But soon my love grew wild, oblivious of all instruction

I begged for it to stop, we all needed a calm
But rage the more it did, eroding my precious land
Was this not still my love, for whom I composed a Psalm?
No, this was just a monster, to ruin my prize so grand

I hated the rain, I cursed it in spite
I wanted it to leave, to cease at all cost
A break of any sort, we needed indeed some respite
To heal from our wounds, and take into account all we had lost

It did as we had asked, subsiding as was bid
The sun then shone on us and thankful we all were
But quickly on us it poured, the anger which it hid
For rejecting it before, it vowed to strip us bare

We called for rain again, but this time twas a no
Unfaithful lovers, it called us; it planned to teach compromise
But all we did was fight, and push the sun to go
Yet rain did not return, and drought was left to rise…