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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Widow’s Cry</h2>



<pre class="wp-block-verse">Tears of tomorrow's hope tear the heart of an African widow 
Her tears are like desert of abandoned water oasis 
No one hears her cry anymore, subjected to pain and penury. 
 
She cries for help. 
 
The African widow asked to marry her husband's brother, 
To keep the blood linage or bear a son for the dead. 
She becomes the brother's inheritance. 
 
Today I hear her cry, 
Her voice like cracked record, 
Old wrapper soaked with tears, 
Yet she wipes her tears with it 
and says: 
 
"Oh death, what cruelty! 
 
Must I agree? 
What is the hope of my children? 
Oh death where is my husband? 
Why allow ugly scavenger of a brother rip all possessions of our sweat 
 
Is it fair that the Kinsmen, the 'Umunna', 
Wants me - a piece of carcass - for a vulture 
What a culture, what a tradition, 
 
Who can hear my cry? 
Who can come to my aid?" 
 
Sobs away.</pre>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Agbada</h2>



<pre class="wp-block-verse">Every day I see Agbada on T.V 
Reverberating our ears, wobbling our sight 
About redemption from our ancestors, 
Interpreting incantations raising his calabash, 
Enchanting concocted words formed from fuming pot of flames. 
'Words of our ancestors.' He says. 
 
Are our ancestors no longer mute faded ghosts? 
Do they have telephones in their tomb? 
I watched their tombs wear faces of cobwebs, 
No resurrection, 
Not like the Nazarene. 
 
While the Agbada message rings like bell on a hill every dawn morning, 
Thousands of sleepwalking masses cluster like zombies with unknown paths to choose, 
Like morning drunks, 'Imbecilic', 
Hearts thumping upon pots and calabashes 
While lips sing praises to the Nazarene. 
 
Like pendulum... 
Confusion! 
Confusion!</pre>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hammer on Our Skin </h2>



<pre class="wp-block-verse">Today, the face of our weather is with a wicked wrinkle, 
Blows breeze, raises dusty sands set by whirlwinds, 
Like hammer on our head, Harmattan strikes, 
Dries us white like ashes of roasted corn. 
 
It is not summer, 
It is not autumn, 
Something like a wicked winter without 
Snow or rain, just dryness. 
 
Dancing trees shed off dried leaves, 
Harmattan is a hammer on our skin, 
Yearly it comes, 
By it, we live and die, 
 
Such is the life in Nigeria. 
</pre>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Contemplations </h2>



<pre class="wp-block-verse">I sit with raised neck and hang my breath, 
I see scattered stars staring at the earth. 
 
Above the sky, 
I see nakedness of moon clothed half with veil of blue, 
I see blur clouds move like dew, 
I hear mumbling echoes with waves of hue. 
 
Seated in outburst of thought, 
Seated on a seaside, 
Where Dragonflies flutter kisses on body of water, 
Where waves wobble water into fluctuations, dances from side to side, 
With melodious piece of Passenger's songs, I am lost in thought. 
 
Contemplating... 
 
Contemplating to oblivion. 
</pre>



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<p class="has-text-align-right has-black-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-5effc64893c84d3f451299db8b4e098a" style="background-color:#f1f1f8">Leonard Ifeanyi Ugwu, Jr. is a Lecturer at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a poet and a playwright. He studied Political Science to Masters Level and is currently a Doctorate researcher in the same field. Leonard Jr. won the best poet of the year 2012 and 2013 respectively from the Caritas University Literary and Arts Association (CAULAA) where he obtained his first degree. He is the author of two poetry collections, ‘Echoes of Bullets’ (2021), and ‘Echoes of the Invisible’ (2017). He compiled the Anthology of Peace for the World Union of Poets (WUP) published by Atunis Poetry in 2016 – edited by Ayoola Goodness Olanrewaju. He is the ‘Big Squire’ of the World Union of Poets, a laureate at the World Nations Writers Union (WNWU), and former coordinator of the Creative Writers Association of Nigeria (CWAN) Enugu state chapter. His poetry can be found in a variety of publications across the globe. His Debut Play ‘Babel and Boys’ is currently in Press and will be out before the end of 2023.</p>
 
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‘A WIDOW’S CRY’ / ‘AGBADA’ / ‘HAMMER ON OUR SKIN’ / ‘CONTEMPLATIONS’ | four poems by Leonard Ifeanyi Ugwu, Jr.
Photo by Lia Castro: | pexels.com