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BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST 2015: SHOWUNMI OLAWALE MICHAEL WINS MAY EDITION

<body><div class&equals;"booster-block booster-read-block">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"twp-read-time">&NewLine; &Tab;<i class&equals;"booster-icon twp-clock"><&sol;i> <span>Read Time&colon;<&sol;span>13 Minute&comma; 48 Second <&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine; <&sol;div><blockquote><p><strong>Showunmi Olawale Michael<&sol;strong> has emerged winner of the <a title&equals;"CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS&colon; BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST 2015 &lbrack;MAY&rsqb;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;wrr&period;ng&sol;authorpedia&sol;call-for-submissions-brigitte-poirson-poetry-contest-2015-may&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">May edition of the Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest &lpar;BPPC&rpar;<&sol;a> on the theme&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A PEOPLE’S HOPE”&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Michael&comma; who is known in literary circles as SOMwrites or SOMpoetry&comma; is a graduate of Accounting from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic &lpar;MAPOLY&rpar;&comma; Abeokuta&comma; currently serving his fatherland in the National Youth Service Scheme &lpar;NYSC&rpar; in Zamfara State&period;<br>&NewLine;He beat other contestant with his rhymed poem <em>&OpenCurlyQuote;A PEOPLE’S HOPE’<&sol;em> which scored 86&percnt; after judges scores based on Structure &lpar;harmony of words&comma; presentation&comma; etc&rpar; Creativity&sol;Originality and Relevance to the chosen Theme&period;<br>&NewLine;First runner-up&comma; <strong>Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju<&sol;strong>&comma; whose poem <em>&OpenCurlyQuote;THE GREEN HOPE’<&sol;em> got 85&percnt; and 2nd runner-up&comma; <strong>Abiola Inioluwa Oluwaseun<&sol;strong>&comma; who scored 84&percnt; with his poem <em>&OpenCurlyQuote;AFRICAN VOICE’<&sol;em> could not stop Michael from clinching the top prize&period;<br>&NewLine;The Ogun state indigene is an ardent writer&comma; fond of political satires&comma; nature&comma; love&comma; religious themes&period;<br>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;My inspiration springs from God&comma; reading and the plight of his homeland&comma;” he said in his bio&period;<br>&NewLine;He has been published in poetry anthologies like<em> &OpenCurlyQuote;Epistle of Lies’&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;<a title&equals;"VIA GRAPEVINE II &lpar;Free Download&rpar;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;wrr&period;ng&sol;authorpedia&sol;via-grapevine-ii-free-download&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Via Grapevine II’<&sol;a><&sol;em> and was a finalist in the <a title&equals;"BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST 2015&colon; SAMSON OLUWATOYIN WINS FEBRUARY EDITION" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;wrr&period;ng&sol;authorpedia&sol;samson-oluwatoyin-wins-brigitte-poirson-poetry-contest-2015-february&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">February edition of Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest &lpar;BPPC&rpar;<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>One people&comma; multiple voices expressing rich variations on the theme of the month&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;a people’s hope’&colon; the poets have skilfully explored the arcanes of despair and sources of hope for their country in their verse&period;<br>&NewLine;They have expanded into vast semantic fields&comma; conquering outstanding images and metaphors – rarely getting lost in neologisms&period;<br>&NewLine;The May poets have brought music to the ear through wealthy alliterations&comma; and peace and ease to the mind through their soulful determination to fly the flags of poetry and democracy&period;<br>&NewLine;Faced with such brio&comma; one can only expect permanent proper punctuation and attention to sentence structure in the coming contests&comma; for the full contentment of the readers&period;<br>&NewLine;Félicitations aux participants&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>~ Brigitte Poirson&comma; co-judge BPPC 2015<&sol;strong><&sol;em><br>&NewLine;<em><strong>09&period;June&period;2015<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>Below are the top 10 poems&comma; with marks obtained&colon;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<ol>&NewLine;<li>A PEOPLE’S HOPE &lpar;Triple Triolet&rpar; by Showunmi Olawale Micheal &lpar;86&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>THE GREEN HOPE by Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju &lpar;85&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>AFRICAN VOICE by Abiola Inioluwa Oluwaseun &lpar;84&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>THE PEOPLE’S HOPE by Ogechukwu Emmanuel &lpar;83&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>PICKLED PEPPERS by Igbor Clement &lpar;82&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>OUR TRIMMER by Mesioye Johnson&comma;”affable” &lpar;81&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>THE PEOPLE AND THEIR COUNTRY by Iwundu Wisdom &lpar;80&period;5&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>A PEOPLE’S HOPE by Theresa Oguche &lpar;80&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>A PEOPLE’S HOPE by Nwanguma Deborah Obianuju &lpar;79&period;5&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>THE OLD RAIN by Madu Chisom Kingdavid &lpar;79&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;<p><strong>A PEOPLE’S HOPE &lpar;Triple Triolet&rpar; by Showunmi Olawale Micheal &lpar;86&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is no messiah&comma; saviour&comma; neither both&period;<br>&NewLine;It’s like a cozy wish in a hot pan<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This hope is like a vainly yawn&colon;<br>&NewLine;Draining and wrecking our life boat&excl;<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is no messiah&comma; saviour&comma; neither both&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is no messiah&comma; saviour&comma; neither both&period;<br>&NewLine;No man in his own power can…<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Don’t go where others have thus ran&comma;<br>&NewLine;Believing therein is the antidote&period;<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is no messiah&comma; saviour&comma; neither both&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is vain&period; Nothing can he offer&period;<br>&NewLine;God is the only true SAN&period;<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A people’s hope rest not in some clan&comma;<br>&NewLine;But in the Father- the Light and Order&period;<br>&NewLine;Don’t put your hope in earthly man&colon;<br>&NewLine;He is vain&excl; Nothing can he offer&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>SAN- Senior Advocate of Nations<&sol;em><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>THE GREEN HOPE by Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju &lpar;85&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Beneath the heart of the vaguely remorseful tongue<br>&NewLine;Lie wicked shadows in deep devilish deceptive penance<br>&NewLine;The man in the starched regalia<br>&NewLine;Driveling and howling at the gazing technology<br>&NewLine;Is denuded of hope and plastered with greed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The task masters are here with master tasks<br>&NewLine;Wielding wet whipping tongues of bloody blades<br>&NewLine;The food is a morsel of dung in coats of honey<br>&NewLine;And a flagged pandemonium has crept and crippled<br>&NewLine;The sanity of hasty fettered legs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Canvassing denizens drink to stupor over bleeding carcasses<br>&NewLine;The green white green fosters a bruised and septic democracy<br>&NewLine;Drowned in the abyss of corruption and death holes<br>&NewLine;The political ambulance celebrates zeniths of macabre<br>&NewLine;And fumes silence and scorn to sanctity of life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The derricks’ keys drag fisted holds<br>&NewLine;And hunger triggers bedlam talents of the Niger dwellers<br>&NewLine;The militants are the young sons of the gun<br>&NewLine;The guns are cheap now and so is the artillery shell<br>&NewLine;Fastened into the skin of doom ready adherents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The life here is the life of the lantern insect<br>&NewLine;Puffed into death in a suicidal urge of fire<br>&NewLine;The hope long is drenched in the libation of tears<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And the news has come in a gleeful robe of dreads<br>&NewLine;The Vanguard Punch the Tell tale signs of The Nation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Amidst this wilderness of dried fossils<br>&NewLine;Of the paralyzed umbrella and the promising broom<br>&NewLine;Rattle still the deafening silent chants of young vines<br>&NewLine;Scattered in sows over the fallowed black soil<br>&NewLine;For the sun and the rise of the green hope&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>AFRICAN VOICE by Abiola Inioluwa Oluwaseun &lpar;84&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>The crucked path which has always been ahead&comma;<br>&NewLine;With strength and borrowed breath we all are ready to tread&comma;<br>&NewLine;For I hear the resounding of the sacred voice of hope<br>&NewLine;Amending hearts which shame has carved on them&comma; its slope&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The road is slippery&comma; thanks to our brothers butchered bones&semi;<br>&NewLine;Mothers are waling after death bruised their joyful tones&period;<br>&NewLine;Doom is a warrior and all africans are aware&comma;<br>&NewLine;But serenity is knocking&comma; so doom should beware&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When fatherland sighs&comma;just tell him it’s a sign&comma;<br>&NewLine;For a man has come&comma; the future he’ll design&semi;<br>&NewLine;Corruption and crime will shiver at his sight&comma;<br>&NewLine;For this man has come to bring back our right&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dignity will return and shame will have to vanish&period;<br>&NewLine;Tears of the past and present&comma; our future will banish&period;<br>&NewLine;Poverty will be stripped naked at the market place of fortune&comma;<br>&NewLine;And death will be far from us like the Sun is far from Neptune&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Go out and fetch a dancing shoe if you have none&period;<br>&NewLine;Share your light with the next house&comma; if more than one&period;<br>&NewLine;I tell these words&comma; do not feel I’m making a noise&comma;<br>&NewLine;For a man has come&comma; call him the african voice&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>THE PEOPLE’S HOPE by Ogechukwu Emmanuel &lpar;83&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>He was just a drop of water in the ocean&period;<br>&NewLine;But he caused ripples that spread out&comma;<br>&NewLine;Circle after circle after circle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From the little help he rendered the old&semi;<br>&NewLine;The things he taught -the way of peace&period;<br>&NewLine;The ripple spread&comma; circle after circle after circle&semi;<br>&NewLine;The circle got bigger and wider&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He filled a hole in our hearts&comma;<br>&NewLine;A yawning emptiness&comma; our longing for something that’s missing&period;<br>&NewLine;Slowing and gradually&comma; like an incoming tide&comma;<br>&NewLine;Hope crept like water into the water-starved lands that were our hearts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We began to see the life in our deaths&comma;<br>&NewLine;For he gave death life with his gesticulations&period;<br>&NewLine;We saw freshness in rottenness&comma;<br>&NewLine;For the peace of which he spoke sprang from violence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the cage of our doldrum existence<br>&NewLine;We sang freedom&comma; for it was felt where ever he went&period;<br>&NewLine;He spoke of freedom from oppression&comma;<br>&NewLine;Oppression we get from ourselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gradually&comma; this ripple became a wave&comma;<br>&NewLine;This wave a storm&comma; till he was noticed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was our hope&comma; the people’s hope&semi;<br>&NewLine;A mustard seed planted on the fecund soil of expectation&semi;<br>&NewLine;The rain in the drought&comma; the calm in the tempest&period;<br>&NewLine;We were ready to pull at the pillars of the world for him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But he left without a word&comma; without us knowing&period;<br>&NewLine;Our hope came crashing down like a pack of cards&period;<br>&NewLine;It became an echo&colon; fainter and fainter and fainter&comma;<br>&NewLine;Till hope became a name&comma; a name we wrapped our minds insanely about&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>PICKLED PEPPERS by Igbor Clement &lpar;82&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That’s Peter Piper for you<br>&NewLine;A young boy with nothing proper to do<br>&NewLine;Wandering around looking for pepper to chew<br>&NewLine;Claiming He Fs&ast; sisies<br>&NewLine;Yet I see pieces<br>&NewLine;Of pepper still lying around<br>&NewLine;And even more pieces<br>&NewLine;Of paper still flying about<br>&NewLine;I see pickled peppers still frying about<br>&NewLine;And helpless people still crying aloud<br>&NewLine;And dining sets still lying around<br>&NewLine;I see private jets still flying about<br>&NewLine;And armored cars still driving around<br>&NewLine;And graduate stars still striving about<br>&NewLine;For jobs they should easily get<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pecks of pickled peppers Peter piper picked<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These pecks of pickled peppers pick pockets<br>&NewLine;And fill our hearts with regrets<br>&NewLine;They’re in power but have no outlets<br>&NewLine;To the people&comma; they’re bad sockets<br>&NewLine;They should be locked in barred lockets<br>&NewLine;Except&comma; that Peter piper picks pecks<br>&NewLine;Of pickled pepper for his own pockets<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maybe Peter is not the piper<br>&NewLine;And so can’t dictate the tune<br>&NewLine;Maybe Peter just gets hyper<br>&NewLine;Whenever he sees the moon<br>&NewLine;Enough spot light to like the reaper<br>&NewLine;Look for pepper shrubs to prune<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If Peter Piper really picks peck of pickled pepper<br>&NewLine;We hope to see the pecks of pickled pepper Peter Piper picks<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>OUR TRIMMER by Mesioye Johnson&comma;”affable” &lpar;81&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>From the wails of lifeless dreams&comma;<br>&NewLine;With its echoes from the beautiful walls of hatred&comma;<br>&NewLine;Oozing resounding plight&comma;comes a sound<br>&NewLine;from hope&comma;reviving dead eardrums to listen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Violence tasted our nudity&comma;<br>&NewLine;And drank our mothers’ blood to maintain her beauty&comma;<br>&NewLine;As fathers became feathers before bereaved weather&period;<br>&NewLine;Still&comma;we salivate to chew songs of peace spiced with hope&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even the poignant melanin breeding grief<br>&NewLine;below our skins with pounding pains pinned with race<br>&NewLine;to tag inequality on our wrinkled foreheads<br>&NewLine;would peel off&comma;for laws to seal equality on our veins&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Like the meadow gripped by dew at dawn&comma;<br>&NewLine;Our existence would be kept in the foil of normalcy&comma;<br>&NewLine;Placed on affairs’ flowing promises&comma;paddled by fulfillment&comma;<br>&NewLine;To the end where serenity awaits our breath again&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rights that remained dumb to the chords of independence<br>&NewLine;when governance failed to dance to the rhythms of credence<br>&NewLine;since ills were transposed to a pitch where only money sings&comma;<br>&NewLine;Would all have fearful heart to score their music on fidelity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yet&comma;I wander in wonder how smooth the globe might be&comma;<br>&NewLine;If beliefs from the poles of enmity meet at love’s mid-point&comma;<br>&NewLine;To form axis where truth draws the radius of human thoughts&period;<br>&NewLine;For if the earth turns thorny edges&comma;hope is our trimmer&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We want peace to be the cloud of humanity&comma;<br>&NewLine;Where sanctity becomes the sun on sky-bed&period;<br>&NewLine;But when will its rains reign on our parched gains&quest;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>THE PEOPLE AND THEIR COUNTRY by Iwundu Wisdom &lpar;80&period;5&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>When they were fresh of their mother’s breasts<br>&NewLine;And no longer wiped their faces with diffident diapers<br>&NewLine;They would gather at the windowsill&comma; bidding farewell to the moon<br>&NewLine;And watch the sun yawn into the clouds and atop trees<br>&NewLine;Then to the early psalms of the morning creatures&comma; they’d hymn<br>&NewLine;A song of change&comma; a lullaby for liberation<br>&NewLine;But the morning would become deaf and the day quiet<br>&NewLine;For the unmet promises from their leaders campaign swathe their hopes<br>&NewLine;But when the sun found respite beneath the umbrella of clouds<br>&NewLine;And the rain tinkered on the loam of their infancy<br>&NewLine;They became teenagers¬ – still courting the prospects of change<br>&NewLine;They’d gather at the casket of their forefather’s hopes<br>&NewLine;Singing with new tongues an old song<br>&NewLine;But the sky would roll up and government’s seats retreat<br>&NewLine;To watch them sing those strange songs alone<br>&NewLine;Then from the lying lips of their savior-assuming leaders will come<br>&NewLine;A reason to change their song&comma; an excuse to lose the fight<br>&NewLine;And now&comma; their assemblage is a prayer of full beards and bare breasts&semi;<br>&NewLine;They now pick at the hope from their infancy<br>&NewLine;Sitting around the remains of their youth<br>&NewLine;Their hymns now slurred with age and perseverance<br>&NewLine;Each word weary from the burden of their sojourn<br>&NewLine;Still singing an old song – but with old tongues<br>&NewLine;For they believe they’d be witness to the day<br>&NewLine;When the sky will brighten at their orchestra<br>&NewLine;And the morning creatures will share their songs<br>&NewLine;A day the sun will awaken to lean on the shoulders<br>&NewLine;Of their hope and truth will be engraved in the lips of their leaders&semi;<br>&NewLine;A day they’d be glad they never gave up on their country<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>A PEOPLE’S HOPE by Theresa Oguche &lpar;80&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>In catacombs of misery for torrid decades<br>&NewLine;habitated the grievous gaunt garments<br>&NewLine;Savouring the dry quivering dust<br>&NewLine;Of the hardened earth crust<br>&NewLine;In penurious lament&period;<br>&NewLine;The kleptomaniac citizens of<br>&NewLine;Truthful lies cum adversary in tanned<br>&NewLine;Cloaks of skeletal promises<br>&NewLine;Mired motherland in recession and sent<br>&NewLine;Justice&comma;change and love on a foggy exile<br>&NewLine;Alas&excl; a stentorian hope hoped for has<br>&NewLine;Risen above the camouflage of dreadful thorns<br>&NewLine;Hovering over the garment of our land&comma; with<br>&NewLine;integrity&comma;sincerity&comma;humility&comma;credibility&comma; morality&comma;creativity and due<br>&NewLine;sense of responsibility&period; Lo&comma;let songs of hope be sung<br>&NewLine;Aloud and gongs of unity&comma;beaten stupendously as the wind of hope<br>&NewLine;blows and flows<br>&NewLine;Rhythmically o’er our land&period;<br>&NewLine;Tell the people in disguised garments of trepidation&comma;that the people’s<br>&NewLine;hope has emerged<br>&NewLine;With a crown of justice&comma;harmony and change to<br>&NewLine;Eradicate the cloak of destitution&comma;corruption<br>&NewLine;and to elevate the masses from ashes of<br>&NewLine;Shredded dreams cum shattered visions and<br>&NewLine;To lead us to our promise land&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>A PEOPLE’S HOPE by Nwanguma Deborah Obianuju &lpar;79&period;5&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>I see into deep eyes that are used to darkness<br>&NewLine;Even now these eyes rest on the roads<br>&NewLine;The roads filled with large holes<br>&NewLine;Those holes that dig deeper holes in his heart<br>&NewLine;I see into a heart filled with emotions<br>&NewLine;Filled with driving forces that screamed change<br>&NewLine;Coils with pain when injustice plays in front of it<br>&NewLine;Bleeds sadness and hurt for a land diseased with corruption<br>&NewLine;I know the eyes that read the books<br>&NewLine;Books that speak of history of bloodied flags<br>&NewLine;As white and green gave different shades of red<br>&NewLine;I see into a mind that wondered<br>&NewLine;Why some people wanted the Sun half and the blood they gave for it<br>&NewLine;Yet In this dark land&comma; a flower buds still<br>&NewLine;Almost like the famous root out of a dry ground<br>&NewLine;He screams thus with will and patriotism<br>&NewLine;I may not have witnessed twenty seasons of harmattan&comma; No<br>&NewLine;But to this darkened and raped land&comma; I will give my godly conscience<br>&NewLine;Though the millions the swollen leaders swallow<br>&NewLine;I will give the poor my mite and time<br>&NewLine;I will read printed black and white to be great<br>&NewLine;There’s a trench on the floor from my constant prayer<br>&NewLine;I will play Luther again and again when there’s need to<br>&NewLine;I refuse to put my feet in the imprints of those ahead<br>&NewLine;I will teach little kids the honest way in the race<br>&NewLine;I will light the candle of hope before dim eyes<br>&NewLine;Weakened by the search of silver lining in the clouds<br>&NewLine;When I’m given the Mandate&comma; fulfill I must<br>&NewLine;I am a people’s hope<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><strong>THE OLD RAIN by Madu Chisom Kingdavid &lpar;79&percnt;&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>I&period;<br>&NewLine;There was no clap of thunder&comma; there were no<br>&NewLine;rumours of gathering clouds&comma;<br>&NewLine;For our sky lost ownership of rain to drought<br>&NewLine;for sixteen-clawed seasons&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The dying bones of the Grassland&comma; Forest and<br>&NewLine;Creek enclaves watched Locusts<br>&NewLine;Of the Rock reaped the greens of our earth&comma;<br>&NewLine;While we ate from the lips of carcasses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They penned us in the perpetual pen of penury&comma;<br>&NewLine;Where we met the fun-filled<br>&NewLine;Funerals of our teething dreams before sunset&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We watched faceless foes of the midnight forest<br>&NewLine;Purloined freely our maiden<br>&NewLine;Sunflowers from the Chibok garden and beyond&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We watched the navel of our nay-tion split&semi;<br>&NewLine;Watched its images became<br>&NewLine;Moulds of maze before the eyes of other skies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>II&period;<br>&NewLine;Our hope became pregnant with death in the labour<br>&NewLine;Of pain and the delivery seemed eternal&period;<br>&NewLine;Until The Old Rain came with the<br>&NewLine;April rainbow&comma; carrying Millions of tired voices&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Carrying the rain-bearing Wind of Change –<br>&NewLine;Now gradually revealing the hidden<br>&NewLine;Wrinkles of clouds from the face of our tattered sky&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We hope&comma; soon&comma; the million seeds we queued and<br>&NewLine;Planted in ballot boxes shall blossom&comma;<br>&NewLine;For The Old Rain&comma; Our hope&comma; has come with<br>&NewLine;Naked promises of the virgin rain&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That we may sprout above the tangled<br>&NewLine;talons of this parched earth of ours<br>&NewLine;And bear green branches with ripe breasts&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"margin&colon; 0cm 0cm 0&period;0001pt&semi;" align&equals;"center">&ast;&ast;&ast;&ast;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"margin&colon; 0cm 0cm 0&period;0001pt&semi;"><a title&equals;"CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS&colon; BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST 2015 &lbrack;JUNE&rsqb;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;wrr&period;ng&sol;authorpedia&sol;call-for-submissions-brigitte-poirson-poetry-contest-2015-june&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Click <strong>HERE<&sol;strong> to enter for the JUNE edition of BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST&comma; themed <strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;TRADITIONS AND CULTURE”&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine; &NewLine; <div class&equals;"booster-block booster-author-block">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"be-author-details layout-square align-left">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"be-author-wrapper">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"booster-row">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"booster-column booster-column-two booster-column-mobile">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"be-author-image">&NewLine; <img alt&equals;"" 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