POETS OF THE MONTH - JULY 2015

THE POETRY COURT

POETS OF THE MONTH, JULY 2015.

For this month JULY 2015, we have KEMI ISLAMIYA BAKARE (KEMISTREE) as our first [1st] position, with her poem titled DEMOCRACY ENSLAVED.
For the second [2nd] position we have JOYCE NNEBUOGO NWANOKWAI  with her poem titled SONGS OF HER VOICE.
And for the third [3rd] position we have OLADIPO KEHINDE PAUL, with his poem titled NESTLING HEART.

DEMOCRACY ENSLAVED

Democracy is an ostracized sage
Democracy is a Lego game in the hand of man
Democracy, a way of life, killed out of life
Democracy is that freedom, diagnosed with death before invention
Democracy, a word whose meaning was stolen before it was bought
Democracy, a right made illicit before given

Democracy is enslaved
Democracy enslaved
Freedom is condemned to the mind that can still think
Not with the hope of sailing in it
But of fantasy created to live in the brain
Till human race fall asleep
Like an untruthful truth

Democracy is enslaved
Democracy enslaved
Like slavery is rebranded to exist out of chain
To the noosing of the mind
And the imprisonment of the brain

Democracy is enslaved
Democracy enslaved
By illusions and dogmas, planted in our cranium
By News, written how it ought to be
Not how it is
Democracy is enslaved by man
Who, bear out of a woman would break it out of prison?

  

Kemi Bakare is an experienced young performance poet who has assumed the position of a performance director for the AJ HOUSE OF POETRY (A poetry performance organisation based in Lagos Nigeria). She emerged as the overall winner of WORDSLAM V organised by GOETHEINSTITUT in 2011. Kemistree has been shortlisted in various poetry competitions including the NIGERIA/ZIMBABWE POETRY EXCHANGE 2012. She has performed at various events such as the Lagos Black Heritage Festival 2014, Word up, Coterie, Be Blessed, Greatpath spokenword show, Wole Soyinka and @80, Vivid verses, Freedom spoke words, etc. She has been featured by various poets and rappers and was ranked 4th best spokenword artiste, 11^th poet that rocked Nigeria in 2014 by EGC. She was also overall winner of the Eko Poetry Slam 2014. She was the first guest poet in Nigeria to perform for the 3^rd Annual Celebration of the Unseen Awards alongside former Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (S.A.N).

SONG OF HER VOICE

I've lost a lot in my previous life
Still with the thought that mummy will come home one day
That she will look me straight in the eyes
And apologize for my lonely 25 years on earth

Cos I still miss the song of her voice
That I never had the chance to listen to
So without an apology from me
I want to steal you from God

Back to the beginning of time
When we were set apart even before
We were made close as mother and daughter
So mummy come home if you can hear me now

Cos I still see the frames of your beauty
like karashika night
You are the ghost I'm not afraid to hold
So come home if you can if God will

Cos I've got so much to tell you
So let me start with the first day I met my ex
It was everything beautiful
But now we only exist in space and time

So tell me!

How do I understand the word forward
When I don't even know how to reach to you
How do I correct the mistakes of daddy
When he's not even here to say I'm sorry

It's been a lonely years for me...
It's been a lonely years for me...

And I'm not mad
I wasn't born with a silver spoon
I'm just a little sad you left me at the golden gate
Where I had to struggle my way out of life

I can still remember the taste of kuli-kuli
Swallowed with sweet condensed milk
With my back resting on iron bed
Quietly begging the night to cease

It's been a lonely years for me...
It's been a lonely years for me...

Cos I still mistake eye contact for love
And it seems playing with the boys
Is the only reason I've grown so strong
And I still don't know what is right and wrong

But if you command me to stop
I will stop and listen to the song of your voice
So sing mummy
Sing to me and drive away my lonely nights.

 Joyce Nnebuogo Nwanokwai,born 9th of September 1990,am a script writer and a  poet ,I hail from the southern part of Nigeria Delta State and am a final year student of Criminology and Security Studies in the National Open University of Nigeria.

NESTLING HEART

I have a conversation with the moon
As I lay my head at night
Waiting for the break of dawn
The sun outspread a hand of friendship
Filing my heart with fruitful thoughts
The sound of victory beats the drum of my ears
I listen to the rhythm of my heartbeat
Expression of love in my nestling heart
The tallest tree is the pride of the forest
Dreams and vision are the pride of the night
Footsteps on the path of dreams
Where stars have their portion before the break of dawn.

 OLADIPO KEHINDE PAUL is a poet



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NOTE: ThePoetry Court will not be having POETS OF THE MONTH for August and September 2015...