by Chris Ihidero   I Don’t Want to Cry  I don’t want to cry It’s just that it’s hard to walk pass you daily as you lay in the ground beneath the banana tree when you should be in my arms   I don’t want to cry It’s just that my swollen breasts need to express and my empty tummy [...]

by Alkasim Abdulkadir 1. Stoning from Glass Houses! The took away our lands And built glass houses They took away the stones So we won’t throw stones At their glass houses. Yet they throw stones at us! They forget that those who sleep and snore In glass houses don’t throw stones! Verily soon we shall smuggle stones from abroad Dredge stones [...]

by Kola Tubosun The voice seemed reasonable, locution Different. The young man swore he lived Close by. Nothing remained But self-confession. “Gentleman,” I warned, “I hate a wasted journey—I am big.” Silence. Silenced transmission of Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, Huffy, short minted breath As a husky radioman. Caught I was foully. “HOW FAT?” . . . I had [...]

by Razak Malik   Yester-night in the                 Hazy moon-light Tears littered the                Corridors of those streets Memories searched for                                 Lost dreams- shattered history Once I heard dreams were born                                          Now were crushed                                             Crushed                                                   Before                                                                 Twilight             - the moon mourned I-F-Y I heard dirges in the  Dying hearts of mourners        Wailings in the eyes of my kinsmen       Rain gathered                        - gathered                  Clouds [...]

by Uche Peter Umez Poetry of Pots A butterfly skims over my path, as if I’m scented with pollens. I trail after it, craving harmony. It leads me to a cozy shed. She bends over the potter’s wheel, sheathed in silence. Like the ceramic figurines on her shelf. Fondness radiates on her face as clay yields in her fingers. Suddenly, I [...]

By Soji Cole That black Friday When the canoe berthed by the bank You entered as a passenger Oh, how can you be so unsuspicious! Not to know that the canoe paddler was death Now, how do I tell the world what my eyes have seen! How shall I tell the world what my ears have heard? How shall I [...]

by Joseph Ushie I never knew you while you danced and breathed But the innocence and charm on your undead face In this photo tell me you’re not dead. Earth and we’ve been jealous co-wives Eying your frame, eying your talent, eyeing your all And just while we feasted over having you Mother Earth laughed us to this scorn As [...]

by Peter Akinlabi   Say there was a dance unspent in you, a certain aversion to twine in the soul-shifting plunge into the  spell of the transformative pond;   or say  a refusal to arouse with the singular, profane tension of that plunge and grab Hermes by the mane, wresting   and heaving the techne   and the fire that followed, [...]

by Benson Eluma   For Ify Omalicha Who now to carry on Your dance of beatitude, Lead the chorus In the return movement?   Your strings have suddenly come Undone centre stage. The actors Cannot avoid the strewn beads.   Giving a matinée, death Offered us free seats, Issued you a libretto You were not eager for.   You did [...]

For Ify Omalicha, prima ballerina by Yomi Ogunsanya   It is night too soon in the house, and not time for matinée The lead dancer’s feet have strayed beyond the geography of the stage Beyond the arch and the orchestral pit, beyond the shadows of illusion   The lights are out, the drumming fingers are silenced mid-throb Now others have [...]