Crests and Troughs (Hour 5)

The pinnacle of the cliff

Holds my view stiff

 

Along the trough, the boat is empty

Gentle in its sail, its promise is scanty

 

At that frightening top, I am closer to the sky

They said it’s the limit, to the earth I won’t say bye

 

Oh I love jumping down, there is fun in the risk

If the boat is on a pool of tears, I’d rather shelf my frisk

 

The knack to navigate the peaks and valleys

Gives me a sense of what should be in my grocery trolleys

 

All said; for choice I’ll stay at the peak

That will keep my bird pointing to the sky with its beak

 

 

The Lost Words (Hour 4)

Jisike, you are the friend who chose to foldaway

 

Truth found us in the beginning

Its presence, unwelcome

Its garment of honour, invisible

The invitation to the unity of birth, void

 

But we tarried

 

We were nascent beings, volatile and transient

We stood always with hairs in the sky

If we have a date with truth tonight again

They will be rehearsing our beautiful songs

 

And you chose to travel

 

Truth will find us midway still

Truth will find us in the end

Those beautiful songs must sing themselves

Those dreams built on sand dunes will remain

Not to be buried in the cemetery of lost words

 

The Boss is a Lie (Hour 3)

Clean suit on straight lovely pants

Screaming tie, transforming into a noose

An Italian leather briefcase ejects a suffocating Mac laptop

Spreadsheets pop out multiple eight-digit figures

A lean workforce trembles, a fat board expects

All sat, listening to slides brimming with lies

 

In the crowded work room, the boss has been alone all the while

 

Profit is squatting nearby, seeking a new abode

The workforce is dying, beaten ill by the boss’ ire

The boss’ SUV outside exudes pity, unable to help

The board has slept with juicy tales all year long

All sat, waiting for the pregnant magic of transformation

But the spreadsheet figures are not adding up, they won’t

The board is spitting eight-digit curses upon the payroll

Profit is standing afar, winking at new spinsters

 

In the crowded work room, the boss has been alone all the while

 

The meeting disperses like the aftermath of war

The bourgeois boss sheds tears under the corporate almond tree

The pillars will collapse like a weak house in the woods

It’s time to redeem the lies, to roll up the sleeves

But the beaten workforce will care no more

And the boss feels the biting hollowness of the pyramid top

 

In the crowded work room, the boss has been alone all the while

 

 

 

 

 

So there is a Pandemic in the Air (Hour 2)

i.

Our songs will not be lost.

That euphoric declaration of twenty twenty,

a new decade set to bear new wings,

painted on walls of grand introspection.

 

Yet, the songs were going to peel off.

At the wake of the decade’s first quarter,

a pandemic flew in like unidentified flying objects,

with an airplane too big for the landing field.

 

ii.

You know how it looks, don’t you?

That invisible crown walking like a king,

snuffing lives, halting man, closing earth,

like a whirlwind high up to the heavens.

 

You see, it craves ignorance like lust,

Seeking victims of the sin of hindsight.

Go ahead and be clothed in the veil of precautions

and the invisible crown will fly around without perching on your head.

 

iii.

Man up, woman up;

there is a weak spot in everything, lying aloof.

Puncture those balloons of paleness

and let them hiss aimlessly out of your space.

 

iv.

Ashes have gone round.

Some blown into the air, like blinding dust;

some bottled in domestic columbaria;

some stuck, like glue, under earth’s feet.

It’s time for a dive out of these ashes.

 

v.

Let the arms gather, visible assemblies on the battle line.

Let the armies be adjured into action.

Let the swords take out all the jaundiced emotions that heap ashes beneath your feet.

The pandemic must have a weak spot somewhere.

The pandemic must have a weak spot somewhere.

 

vi.

Our songs will not be lost.

With fright thrown into the furnace,

with ignorance fleeing from us,

with earth healing beyond the ashes,

our songs will not be lost.

Thank You for Having Me!

Hi Everyone,

My name is Ofuma Agali. I am happy to join you all this year for The Poetry Marathon 2020 and I look forward to it as it will begin on the 27th June, which is my birthday.

About Me

I writes poetry and fiction as my current genres of interest. My works have appeared in The Post Express Literary Supplement, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, and Praxis Journal of Gender & Cultural Critiques. Two of my poems have also been published in the anthologies. I have written a collection of poems titled If We Are Willing The Earth Will Listen and I completed a collection of short stories early this year. I experienced a creative writing lacuna that spanned over a decade as a result of professional and life pursuits. It was a miracle to have my creative writing back!

I live and work in Lagos, Nigeria. In the course of my professional life, I have worked as a journalist, public relations consultant, training manager, and content marketing consultant.

Why I applied for The Poetry Marathon 2020

I got to know about The Poetry Marathon only this month and I found it quite innovative. Kudos to the founders and team! I have not written or completed a poem since I resumed creative writing about three years ago, apart from one which I am not quite proud of. Fiction attracts me more now. So I thought the Poetry Marathon might help me rekindle that spark.

I am looking forward to this!

Yes, I am.

See you all on Saturday.

 

 

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