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 </div><p></p><figure id="attachment_7246" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-7246" style="width: 355px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/wrrpoet.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-7246" src="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/wrrpoet.png" alt="Never Would Have Made It Without Sin" width="355" height="385" loading="lazy"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-7246" class="wp-caption-text"><strong>Never Would Have Made It Without Sin</strong></figcaption></figure>
<p>I was rebuked and ridiculed<br>
They tore my soul and body apart<br>
I could hear the wailing of my heart<br>
I was paralyzed in my seat by their comments<br>
I was dumb founded<br>
I had sinned<br>
But never would have made it without that sin</p>
<p>I was in love with poetry<br>
I drunk it every breakfast<br>
I read it as part of my quiet time<br>
Sleep always found me with poetry in the night<br>
Never would have written one without sin</p>
<p>So I sinned and became a poet<br>
They said I had violated copyright of a poem<br>
They said I have stolen a poem (tears in my eyes)<br>
They said I had brought shame to their page<br>
Yes, that was true, I had infested them with my stolen poem<br>
My bad,I couldn’t write one<br>
But now write many because I sinned</p>
<p>They couldn’t do anything to help<br>
I gave them no choice than to kill me<br>
They plugged my heart out of my self<br>
They poisoned my spirit with pills of vilifications<br>
Angry oceans washed away my integrity<br>
Respect and honour weaved from the past<br>
varnished in matters of seconds</p>
<p>I parked my shame in my palm<br>
I collected my tears in my heart<br>
I bagged my ignominy<br>
And entombed them in my bed</p>
<p>So I died for a month<br>
I mourned my soul<br>
My obituary read “POETRY KILLED HIM,GONE FOR A WHILE”<br>
A funeral of three in my room<br>
My disgraceful self, the mirror and the ceiling</p>
<p>A month of self transfiguration<br>
A month of Surgery by Dr. God<br>
he fixed my neck a new head<br>
he breathed in me a new Life<br>
Pushed a new Clifford into an old world<br>
And handed me a pen, my poetic sword</p>
<p>Still I had not recovered from scars of the past<br>
So I peeped into their world on web<br>
I saw them happy and going<br>
Lost in dilemma<br>
whether will be welcomed or kicked away</p>
<p>She saw me spying, she ran quickly towards me<br>
Held my online head and kissed me on the fore<br>
She grab my scars and made me a fresh skin of today<br>
She flowed into me and made me whole again<br>
Come on, you welcome home, her <a class="zem_slink" title="South Africa" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-30.0,25.0&;spn=10.0,10.0&;q=-30.0,25.0%20(South%20Africa)&;t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">South African</a> eyes<br>
Told me everything I needed to live<br>
#Noleen Utterance Desiree Titus</p>
<p>He also came arms opened<br>
Embraced me from my shy and timid steps towards him<br>
He dug his hand into my soul and picked the spirit up<br>
He opened the doors to his heaven and welcomed me back<br>
The same heaven I had begrimed<br>
He initiated me a poet and called me a bard<br>
My Jesus online, Sir Kukogho Iruesiri Samson</p>
<p>Am now an Apostle of the kingdom<br>
I am now because I sinned<br>
Never would have made it without sin.</p>
<p><strong>POET’S PROFILE:</strong><br>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cliffordlabata">Oppong Clifford Benjamin</a> is a proud son of Africa and native of the Ashanti <a class="zem_slink" title="Ghana Empire" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=15.6666666667,-8.0&;spn=0.1,0.1&;q=15.6666666667,-8.0%20(Ghana%20Empire)&;t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Kingdom of Ghana</a>. Clifford is second with his twin sister in a family of six. Had my basic education in Naraguta Grammar School, <a class="zem_slink" title="Tarkwa" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=5.3,-1.98333333333&;spn=0.1,0.1&;q=5.3,-1.98333333333%20(Tarkwa)&;t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Tarkwa</a> in the western region of <a class="zem_slink" title="Ghana" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=5.55,-0.25&;spn=10.0,10.0&;q=5.55,-0.25%20(Ghana)&;t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Ghana</a> and proceeded to <a class="zem_slink" title="Ghana Secondary Technical School" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Secondary_Technical_School" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Ghana Secondary Technical School</a>, GSTS as it is popularly known. I studied General Science in GSTS.<br>
Clifford is currently a Civil Engineering student in the Kumasi Polytechnic of Ghana.<br>
I met poetry in my <a class="zem_slink" title="Middle school" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_school" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Junior High school</a>. I have been reading poems online and in the library since 2005. I deeply fell in love with words when I completed <a class="zem_slink" title="High school" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Senior High school</a>. I read poems almost every gentle hour that passes by.</p>
<p><strong>A <a class="zem_slink" title="Poetry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">POETIC</a> DEATH</strong><br>
I came across a poet in Kenya on PoemHunter whose poems fascinated me so much that I was tempted to post his poems on my <a class="zem_slink" title="Facebook features" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_features" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Facebook page</a> in my name.<br>
One day, I submitted his poems for publication on WRR a public page for poets. Lo and behold, the poem was published and comments came in from all poets present. Few hours after, the legal owner of the poem surfaced from nowhere and sent a threatening warning to the admins of the page. I had stolen a poem.</p>
<p>The rightful owner of the poem overlooked our friendship on PoemHunter and ignored my pleas and went ahead to disgrace me. It was indeed the worst moment on my life. What really happened has been clearly stated in the poem above.<br>
It was after this experience that I came up with my first poem ‘The Journey After WASSCE’ which didn’t attract more comments because there were so much errors here and there.<br>
With Determination, perseverance and the support of Sir KIS, Madam Noleen and of course myself. I have written more than twenty poems now.<br>
I have had my poems published on the UK Poetry Library, WRR, Angry Poets and recently I was interviewed by Oral Ofori on his Live TV show called the African Dream in <a class="zem_slink" title="Wallingford, Connecticut" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.4563888889,-72.8041666667&;spn=0.1,0.1&;q=41.4563888889,-72.8041666667%20(Wallingford%2C%20Connecticut)&;t=h" target="_blank" rel="geolocation">Wallingford, Connecticut</a>, USA.<br>
Poetry indeed killed me, resurrected me and has made me a better Clifford.</p>
<p><strong>EDITOR’S NOTE:</strong><br>
<em>Poet <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cliffordlabata">Oppong Clifford Benjamin</a> is a poet born to wield the pen for good. I guess he loved poetry so much that he thought it was beyond him to create one on his own.</em><br>
<em>He was vilified on WRRPoetry when the ‘stolen poem’ saga happened. I personally regret it but I am happy he bounced back like a true man. A man that admits his faults, openly, is a man indeed.</em><br>
<em>His verses, after his ‘resurrection’ have been totally awesome. He writes with the skill of a poet who has writer forever. I see him now as a voice that Ghana might need in the near future. (Amen)</em><br>
<em>I think its good we all die and rediscover ourselves at least once in our lifetime.</em></p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;">Related articles</h6>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://thegalwayreview.com/2013/08/27/poetry/" target="_blank">Poetry</a> (thegalwayreview.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://wordsrhymesandrhythm.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/eopp2013-the-winners/" target="_blank">Eopp2013: the Winners</a> (wordsrhymesandrhythm.wordpress.com)</li>
</ul>
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 Oppong Clifford Benjamin </a>
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