Chukuemeka Akpe

A patchwork of decorated combatant lords
Stitched together with diverse fragile cords
Into a tapestry of nations hung on frail words.
...

They adorn these walls as ugly ornaments:
Invisible trails of vermin
Painted with the bile of bitterness
for all to see.
...

A decade of decadent silence
Voided by errant memories:
A prayer on wheels to muzzle fear,
The demon pounding at life’s chamber.
...

A precious Gift
Wrought by the tenderest of Hands:
Eyes that behold love in every face,
Too pure and ignorant of evil.
...

Judas staked his life for pittance in avarice
Joisted on a beam for derision and dishonor
Juxtaposed with thieves to corrupt his piety
Javelin taunts ribbed him of water and blood
...

Infringing thoughts thunder in this cave of lonesomeness
Incarcerating with deafening peals of anguish and sorrow.
Inharmonious rhythms of yesterday’s esteemed dance steps
Invoke now wriggling fervours to blind and muted séances.
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The one at war with self
Seeks the peace with world;
The heart shrivelled with fear
Puffs out a hot air of bravery;
...

Thistle strewn path
cobbled at the dawn of time
for immortal man to tread, his spoor
mortal man to follow.
...

A dome of dark, gloomy clouds caps this landscape.
But, not for rain.
A cacophony of thunderous applause shakes the land.
But, not for rain.
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Years have rolled by
gathering sweet memories
forging strong bonds of sisterhood.
...

Ancient customs girded the Harbinger of Death
In loin cloth, hairy barrel chest and a husky voice.
Taboo is deaf to the hip-swinging trump of death,
Scowling and seething at all infringing trespassers.
...

I.

The dressage of all these mares and stallions
Never fails to hold the world in rapt attention
...

A pantheon of moulded images
Figurines of gold with clay feet
Pottered in a frenzy of adulation
Hailed in theatres of absurdities.
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Accolades of Acolytes dance across banners to gongs,

drums and cheers.
...

An ensemble overtly assembled with armoured tanks
Blared to a quaking audience with dull marshal notes
Cantatas of steel-voiced, stern-faced friendly soloists.
...

Unseen hands swat metal birds from our skies
Plunging them to earth as disemboweled flies
Dark earth crimsons from ever-tender wounds
Of serrated hearts and scars of mortal wounds
...

A graveyard of stoic soldiers:
Charred carcasses of Baobabs
Scarred bodies of wrinkled Palms
Vanquished with flaming swords;
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Ninjas armed with flying swords
noble offerings on ignoble wings
temples of blood on towers of strength
nightmare at dawn.
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N ewborn pushed out by long dialogues
in anaemic rush to the road to freedom
umbilical tethered to a sovereign staff.
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This covey of benighted knights
Enamoured of endless hurrahs
Jousted for fame on gold stallions
Sovereign chest gouged in unison.
...