I kept
the mandate of my people
I died
the death of self
SAIL ON TO TOMORROW & THE FOREVER OF OUR MEMORIES | a poem by Kukogho Iruesiri Samson
Imomotimi, sail on to the other side
As we paddle words to hurry waves for you
While counting time on our prayer beads
AN ODE TO THE SON OF THE SOIL: A TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE | a poem by Chidera Udochukwu
The most valuable Nigerian export is neither gold nor oil,
It is Chinua Achebe, the true son of the soil,
This is the poem to celebrate black excellence
‘HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’ & ‘PARADISE LOST’ (three poems by Yohanna Singfuri Daniel)
Does God allow gods
To preach love & show hate
In the name Of holy communion?
THE ROCKS HAIL YOU (2 poems for Niyi Osundare by Dunni Ebenco)
the eyes of the rocks shine at your voice.
the legs of the hills dance dexterously,
at the rhythmicity of your verses
‘BECAUSE BOYS ARE NOT FLOWERS’, ‘BLEEDING EARTH’, ‘IN MY COUNTRY NO ONE PAYS TICKET FOR THE CONCERT’, ‘CITY OF LIGHTS & ‘AUBADE TO DAWN’ (five poems by Adesiyan Oluwapelumi)
Say, silence bears seeds & disperses them through the garden of this body.
Say, her flowers have thorns.
Say, this body is bleeding. Say, this body’s throat is slit & parched.
‘RHYTHM’ / ‘BLIND SIGHT’/ ‘MISCONCEPTION’, ‘WINGS OF DEATH’ / WAS SHE CREATED TO BE SO?’ | five poems by Abubakar Auwal)
Another child renders grandmas’ poem
An imagination, whose stanzas are dyke of tales,
Now it has swallowed him a line.
‘VINTAGE COLORED DREAMS’, ‘THE TWINS’, ‘THE AIR BEING’ & ‘YET I REMAIN HUMAN’ ’ (four poems by Igbokwe Amarachi)
I wear a mask with dimples that twinkle
and remain, as they say, an optimistic human
‘WHAT TO SAY TO THE BOY THAT ASKS FOR THE REMNANTS OF RAIN’ & ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ (two poems by Salim Yakubu Akko)
and the remnants
of the orphaned rain is lying here
between our ribs, sieving the dust
trying to blur the eye’s of this
night would born.
‘WATER IS ASLEEP’, ‘THE CLOUDS ARE ABSENT’, & ‘PAYBACK’ (three poems by Mai William Bemsii Junior)
Fowls have become dumb
Dogs are now bony
Dust is tick and fleshy