Elephants Minds

ADUNNI In reminiscence of those days when we were asked to write about  The Day I Will Never Forget, I won't forget the day my happiness was sold out in a reverse fairly tale. My older sister, Adunni's hand was to be given out in marriage as a pawn to the son of my father's creditor. My father is actually a chronic debtor and that was how our oldest sister got married. He sees his daughters as debt replacement plans. An agreement was signed the same day her birth certificate was signed, that she'd be the payment of father's debt. We were never told the actual amount of the loan, but it in our heads, it resonated in father's voice that most of it was spent to add value to our lives. That doesn't stop him from being a chronic debtor—the one that doesn't pay back with money but with elegance with a backside and two melons. The Atlantic City Hall always has a beguiling view, but this day, it shone at par with the sun in a blue summer sky. Aso Ebi t...

I can hear history whisper to the present, But the historian is too busy with presents To give the morrow that is to be. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not yet here. There's an unending dialogue, Betwixt the kings and their heirs. Africa! Land of earthen beauty; Who sold her gold to buy earrings. Before the coming of the elder seaman, Africa drank the wines that dropped from their palm lines. Their rulers weren't just seated on the throne, They drew lines of greatness in the depths of the oceans. Folklores under the moonlight, Made every listener hold on to his folk's tail. Have you so soon forgotten Mansa Kanka Musa, Whose appearance at Hajj is likened to the rising of the morning sun? African rulers dictated the tides of the seas And spelt all the hands of time Wrote on Africa's sands of time. Fly me back in time. For the present is lame & the future is obscure. Rulers of hoarse voices. Drumming virtue, yet raining vices. Rulers of biza...

NEW BOOK: FILLINGS AND FEELINGS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FRE E REVIEW I really commend the use of literary devices in the entire work and the application of creativity. One can digest the true state of the poet’s heart. The feeling from the poems in this chapbook is one that bleeds into one another and could fill the reader’s mind with double charm of love and infatuation. “yet she doesn’t understand you don’t write her love poems to quench her reading thirst” −(Fillings and Feelings) The poet really wants to be in love, but finds it hard to take the yoke off his neck. This piece in its entirety depicts the struggling love life of a poet, who is yet deceived by the ingenious nature of his artistic personality. Can he still find love? Ugwu Erochukwu Shedrach Enugu, Nigeria To download this book for free click on DOWNLOAD

Hey yo! It's EK TiGER and EM. I'ma shed all of the lights on martial matters. These things ain't funny So they ain't about who laughs best. Myself and EM baby are leading this campaign And we're not outta here to calm pain. I'ma open the war books to the ram page, And for every waggling tongue there'd be muting. So many sexploitations on the minors, So-sighs-earthy thinking about holdin' manors. If only the oldies could google what's behind the curtains, They'd realize newbies has been tweeting Who would I tell? Momma must not hear this! Papa is gonna kill! I can handle this alone! Drunk in the sorrows of iniquities they settle for more bottles of fair gin. Their sorrows has got the depths of the blue And the heights of the azure Cos they've gotta keep reading black mails Fear, ignorance and molestation sends em. I'd not say this, If these MF would stop without a diss. O'yeah I know, they say don't s...

Bearing and Distance beforehand, I've replayed this day in my head several times. Except that I envisioned myself in an exotic car— the day I would drive past my sss2 maths teacher and I would speed fiercely splashing enough mud on him and his trademark faded blue jean. six years ago, he dragged my pride in the mud for failing a problem in Bearing and Distance, and told me he doubted if I'll find my place in life. today, he came for a party in my area. with the invitation in his hand and directions on it, he still couldn't find his way. he met me, asking for my help and I remembered how I had always wanted to ride pompously past him, also I wondered how his knowledge of Bearing and Distance has failed him. well, instead of remarking my doubts in him, i told him where he was going was 190° due north east of south 2kms away— he should be able to find his destination soon enough. ©A. Shomade Like our page on  Facebook Remember to ...

How about this girl? As you party, She was there partly. Just physically as she sat there, Sipping from the glass cup, Lost in thought wondering how long She'll drink this cup. She's repeatedly raped by her boyfriend, She loves him But when she says no, He doesn't listen. Or maybe he doesn't know He was raping her. Oh feeble little girl. She wants to tell someone But the last time she told her choir Mistress The next Sunday, pastor talked about it. Since she's an orphan She left the church and no one lost a hair. Suddenly she realize no one cares. How about this girl? She's turning twenty two, But she's being turned into a sex tool. He's paying her bills. She's not selling her body, Except you're seeing through another eye, But if you're in her bleeding shoes You have no reason to believe otherwise. He takes it when he wants, She's the first to give it But that was the only time she has given, The last 2...

He Chose To Die I still weep for my brother even when he chose to die. We would have saved him, but he chose to be a reckless being that ended like unrecyclable trash in a bin. Mother always warned him against plugging his ears with loud music that beats on his eardrums like the bang on the door of a debtor. Father sat him down often to share with him stories of deaf and dumb victims in the hospital, but no, my brother turned deaf ears like he'll always do when I asked him to help with a maths problem. I'll personally remind him how he shouts louder than Mama Ologi in the morning as he struggles to hear his own voice often when he talked. But my brother always put his choices above our caring advice. Yesterday, as the sun moves to set wearily, my brother dashed out of the house after an heated argument with mother and plugged his ear with loud music as though to shut the world out and shut the himself out of the world. He has moved only fift...

Of Forbidden Magic and Open Secret This story is not one that glides out easily and unconsciously like the mistake of a bedwetter. It is one that struggles out like a baby out of its Mother. Nine months ago, I marked my Twelveth birthday. My brother got his admission letter and came home so joyful. He dropped a secret seed of joy in me during our usual escapade. That day was the seventh year anniversary of our secret relationship. After several threats to the end of his miserable living, my seventeen-year-old brother grew into almost a mute introvert. He was always having conversations with the inner demons that my parents had carelessly created in him. He has since age three listened to the voice of Mother moaning out load as the Gateman performs 'magic' on her when Father was away in his late night business meetings. Loud moans that competed with that of nursery school pupils reading ABC after their teacher. "Our gateman performs great magic." My broth...

I'M A BAD BOY You all know that they call me a bad boy. But what you don't know is my mind is like a toy, The devil picks it for his sons to play, But God bought it and it's he's son his slay For me to walk away. But how do I walk? My efforts to stand doesn't work. I'd forgive those that think I can't stand, Because sincerely, I've been finding it hard. If God probably gives me a million chances, There's a slim chance I'd take one. But that's not the way this battle would be won. You don't win by luck, I admit that some of you have been lucky, But if I have to win, I have to ask, seek and knock, Especially these times that I don't have the keys. And that's why I've been spending more times on my knee. ©C. Timothy Jr. Click to like our us on Facebook Page