I asked a boy, an orphan, bathing the street with waters
from his body, what led his pedigree to rest.
He said it was a bullet from a drunk policeman’s riffle.
the village chief’s wife & the boy who told tales to a blue bird (a poem by Kukogho Iruesiri Samson)
Today, the chief’s wife visited the village square
her once-rectangular parts now are square!
but we dare not boo or harry her…
OSOFISAN | a poem by Overcomer Ibiteye
my matchbox world gives my family light from my moon
for we are soluble in this water of being
VERSES FOR SAGES | a poem by Peter Itanka
D is for D.O. Fagunwa, the bullroarer who rode in his pen horse for an Expedition To The Mountain Of Thought. D is also for Dele, the town crier whose large bell rings out: Do Not Die in Their War.
PACESETTER | a poem by Adedire Adekunle Peter
If You Must Set Forth At Dawn
Rise before the sun will smirk at your courage
Of a poet that birthed this madness
CHIMAMANDA OF THE EAST | a poem by John Kote
You are not a single story
Patience and pain have courted you to the gravestones of dearly beloved
Grief is not brief, take notes
A BIRD OF PANEGYRICS SINGS OF LEGENDS | a poem by Olajuwon Joseph Olumide
these souls live on,
with immortal footprints on this terrain of african poetics
embodying our narrative experiences.
COMMUNICATION WITH KASHIMAWO | a poem by Dr Stephen O Solanke
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