All Poems

by Nuhu Hussein Isa     The human mind is no dumping place for refuse, instead, it is the royal dining table  upon which only the best of meals are to be served. No courtroom can find a broken mirror wanting for depicting beauty as…

by Abugu Ekenedilichukwu Joel   Rain has flooded the church The darkness of the night has overcome the daylight O! A dark cloud riots the whole sky The bats roam the dark day Hmm! a storm all over the world A storm that threw the…

A Deed That Excites Me (Sonnet) by Damilola Adeyemi May 2021     Leg crossed, Hands curved, Eyes closed, Body loosed. Thinking so deep… Looking before I leap, To evade future weep; And find my lost ship. Now my mind is calm, All I feel…

Author: Unknown   Accept me, Ra, before you go, before I go, I pray?…? Do polychromatic dawn threads coat you, like the tiny coruscating disks sewn into a sequin dress? Bring me to the breast of the night, let me suckle stars, cuddle obsidian cosmos…

A Jelly-Fish  by Marianne Moore       Visible, invisible, A fluctuating charm, An amber-colored amethyst Inhabits it; your arm Approaches, and It opens and It closes; You have meant To catch it, And it shrivels; You abandon Your intent— It opens, and it Closes…

by Deborah Akerele   A lioness she was Fearless, brave and courageous She focuses on the pursuit of her dreams   She roars at every distraction that comes her way And protects her territory From predators.   She fights each day With all her strength…

Chinyere Nwosu     Love is a word. We sound it every day. Everyone knows the word, and no one wishes it away. All crave its pleasures, but few can take its pains. Many love its treasures, but few notice the chains.   Love. A…

Africa      by David Diop       Africa my Africa Africa of proud warriors in ancestral Savannahs Africa of whom my grandmother sings On the banks of the distant river I have never known you But your blood flows in my veins Your…

by Finayon     You are green and white, You are productive, simple, faithful, and amiable. Yet, you survived. You survived a hostile environment. You survived ritual killings. You survived You survived terrorism You survived Banditry. You survived herdsmen, fuel scarcity, ethnic clashes, religious barriers,…

Always Smile At Life    by Chinyere Nwosu Culled from Vials of Almonds – click to buy – print and e-book     When the going gets tough, The end seems not at sight, When you aren’t making a move, And static appears your world;…

As You Like It (Act II, Scene VII) by William Shakespare (1564-1616)   (Jaques to Duke Senior)   All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays…

by Lanre Oguntoye     Be grateful to God. Just be grateful! For the sweet times and the less tasteful, Be grateful! For the filling-ins and the falling-outs, Be grateful! For the healings and the hurts, Be grateful! For the best deals and the bad…

by Ovid  (Original piece is in Latin) Translation by Victoria Punch early morning. down to the shore again to find a place to grieve. the place he left lingering. here the ropes were loosed [here he gave me kisses on the shore, here he left]…

By The Cross  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu April  2021   Looking up at the cross Standing by the foot of the tree, I see the Saviour Hanging there in pain.   Looking up at the cross Standing by the foot of the tree, His blood…

byChinyere Enyim Nwosu    With much hope for the morrow We start each year trending Many resolve to make it better Tossed and carried by the affairs Like the high waves that strike The rocks by the shores of the Atlantic We sway, striving for…

by Shalom Divinewill     Oh! it’s Christmas again Oh yes! it’s in the air Plants and Trees can attest to that Even Animals can confirm the Fact   Sounds of Bang! Bang! Bang! Tells What Angels Sang On the day Christ was born Yes!…

by Finayon   I remember carrying you in my arms,  singing those songs I composed just for you. I remember singing those melodies again till you fell asleep in my arms. Princess, I loved seeing you run all over the house laughing And pick you…

Dance With Me by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu October, 2018     Do not make it a lone step It will be lonely. Just take my hand and hit the floor, I am open for the moves.   You are busy, you’d say; please, don’t pass…

by Finayon     Black is gold. Black is beautiful. Black and proud. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest  is the black woman among the women of the world   She is beautiful and elegant She is the daughter of Africa….

by Finayon Sometimes, I just can’t explain your love. ‘Cos you are love all by yourself. Your love is unconditional. It doesn’t love today And hate tomorrow. Your love doesn’t play games with people’s emotions. Your love is not based on the good I did…

Eggs    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu December 2020   Eggs is an acrostic poem. An acrostic is a poem in which certain letters in each line spell out a word or phrase.     Eggs make rings to grace our meals each day, Garden for…

Faces of Love      by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu   July 2021         Love wears a smile Love wears a frown   Love is sweet  It fills you with hope    Love is bitter It is a dream crusher   Love wraps you…

Flame On The Bird’s Tail by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu February 2021     It’s one of those stories you have heard before, Many people gather but none can help. It’s one of those times you watch from a distance, Your heart is sore, but your…

  Footprints in the Sand Author: Unknown One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One…

Forbidden        by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu September 2018     I crave the milk with my cries Fed all the cup till it dries I lay and play until the day is done Sleep covered through the night still until dawn   My…

Friends are Lamps  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu October, 2018   Life has many colours That brighten our days It kindles the little light from within To radiate all around Yellow, red, blue or green The brightness spread and show the way Oh! What a privilege…

Great Fatherland by Agboola Ibrahim Toyin        I will not talk about him, like a lizard that ruins his own household, he nods and moans “call me a giant for I have done what only me can do.” Here, the reward for mother’s labour…

Her Heart is Full of Light  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu March 2021         There was a celestial presence, One that burned bright white. It hovered far above in the sky. The brightness was part of its essence.   The flowing hair reaching…

I’ve Been To The Mountain Top by Faniyi Oluwatomiwa Elijah       We have come all the way With tears in our eyes We have come treading our paths Through the blood of the slaughtered Here is where our story ends Out of the gloomy…

Independence Day by Josh Pampam     We have lost those first days That had adorned themselves in thorns The swamp-tender thickets rising, like the cup of custard At the mouth of a hot kettle To chancel on faiths, We never could understand.   We have…

It All Adds Up  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu November 2020       It’s the way we live it’s the way we go it’s the way we do things living, walking, working, and doing   It’s the way we see it’s the way we feel…

Jingle All The Same    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu October 2020     Bells jingle Keys jingle Metals jingle Coins jingle Rhymes jingle Songs jingle All make sounds their way But reaches hearing all the same Make a mark whatever your skill Leave some for…

Labour of Our Heroes Past by Matthew Edeh Sunday       If we go back to the street Where Nnamdi Azikiwe was the King How hundred naira would have made our heart merry and sing Nigeria would be a better place to be.   If…

Land Of The Dead by David Olusola Adejumo      Land of the dead Where the dreadful sight Of starving children, Groaning and moaning, Carry with them an aura of poverty, Like a horror movie.   It is a land Where morality has been swallowed…

by Jackie Wang Except from The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us From the Void (Nightboat Books, 2021).   All I remember is the coppiced terrain I crossed to find a house to rest in. Who is the woman lurking in the woods? A…

Life is Music  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu September 2018     The music plays on My mind sings along Pluck the strings Beat the drums Let the trumpet blast Put on your dancing shoes Baby Conga has come to play Your heart must be merry…

by Finayon   I live foolishly in the country called LOVE In the city of loyalty My street name – Commitment My house – Affection My neighbours are Trust and Forgiveness. My landlord – Respect So, don’t take me for granted, Don’t take for a…

Loving Fathers    by Chinyere Nwosu June 2020       It is the same in every culture, your language notwithstanding, and without any care for your leadership structure; Fathers are still standing.     They bring in the meat from the jungle with their…

Loving the Scared Lady by Abiola Fausat March 2021     And gently he pulls her to rest on his chest Pulling her into a warm embrace She tried to wriggle out from his embrace But he held on tightly He lifted her chin, so…

by Jackie Wang Except from The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us From the Void (Nightboat Books, 2021).   Who is the girl forced to kneel on dried chickpeas to atone for the sin of being alive? In the dream blindfold and bandage are…

by Finayon   This is my letter to you, my lover. From a very humble beginning, I was left to chance to survive. Not knowing my left from my right. Still, you had your eyes on me. Life happened again and again – poor decisions,…

My Mother by Ann Taylor (1782-1866)   Who sat and watched my infant head When sleeping on my cradle bed, And tears of sweet affection shed? My Mother.   When pain and sickness made me cry, Who gazed upon my heavy eye, And wept for…

My Nigeria, My Dream by Emeh Alexander       My Nigeria, my Dream My home of humble days Where all my dreams shall flourish In you I find my essence.   My Nigeria, my Dream When others lose faith in thee I see a beautiful…

by Hades     I whispered to the pen, It cried to show its pain, It cried out to the paper Who bled to show its pain.   The blood spilled out to the world Which treated with disdain, My deepest darkest secret My deepest…

Myriad of Insecurity by Agboola Ibrahim Toyin       Nigeria like the remnants of wrecked Sodom and Gomorrah where ills turn the bosom of the earth – a place where dreams become successful like a failure.   NIGERIA! MY NIGERIA! Nigeria, my fatherland, my nation,…

by Sirajudeen Sherifudeen (Wordsaint)   Who are the nation’s builders? Is it the youth or elders? In whom among both can the world manifest? In what ways would the world be built by the notion of the youth?   Incumbent wills of harmony should be…

by Finayon   The land was green The flowers in their beauty. These sights I had seen. The green grass. The zebras The giraffes The elephants The ants Onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, Parots, Lions, scorpions, vegetables and fruits, all in their glories. It is not…

Nigeria @ 61 by Adam Sanusi Haruna        (October 1st ~ Independence Day) 1st October, 2021     A Land with rich natural resources, Full of scholars and businessmen and women, With over 200 million people making a survival. Oh, Nigeria!   Shekarun Baya a Mulkin…

Nigeria Will Rise Again by Deborah Akerele      There is a country, Far abode in western Africa. Blessed with resources Her beauty glows and her scent is lives imprints On her seeds. Her land is green and fertile. Her rivers flow all over the…

Nigeria, Our Pride  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu October, 2018   My Nigeria I speak for me When I say, you are our pride I speak for all the youth When I say, you are our hope I speak for all your children When I say,…

Nigerian Dream by Nenye Nwobu    Oh, I cry, hear heaven, hear earth Hoping for love Hoping for happiness I cry, hear heaven, hear earth Praying for peace Praying for happiness I cry, hear heaven, hear earth Hoping for God just to save Nigeria Nigeria…

Neney Nwobu   There is no birth greater than the one who came. We all sing his praises and wonder how so many mysteries could surround a simple birth. They said he is flesh, but not man, But also a son of man Prolly that…

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman Originally published 1865   O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While…

October by Matthew Edeh Sunday      Oh! First of October! What do you have to offer? Can we say we’ve been better? Are we still that giant of Africa? We know all the matters from starter to center Tell me if we should celebrate…

Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley.     I O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,   Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic…

Oh! What a Melody!      by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu December 2020       At the sound of the bell, the voices rise, Filling the air with melodies, the beauties we raise What is the song that I speak of? You ask, Seeing my…

On The Ride  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu October 2018     The road goes up and down, winding along the bend. I swing the wheels to adapt, and take the ride in its stride You take the stairs or the lift, but feel the weight…

Our Country Nigeria by Olajesu Kolawale        I Woke up one summer morning So little and tender was I, A baby, you could call it, But growing up it was.   A nursery pupil, the little me was And as it came to be,…

Our Heritage, Our Pride by Damilola Adeyemi May 2021     Oh woman of heritage Have ye forgotten thy culture?   When you were been woken up by the cockcrow and not the alarm. You pick up your hoe and cutlass and walk straight to…

Raging Sea    By Chinyere Enyim Nwosu August 2021     The sea rises on the back of the wind and floats towards the shore on the wings of the waves till the current ends as the sea slaps the rocks and washes the sand…

by Jackie Wang Except from The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us From the Void (Nightboat Books, 2021).   In the rain, in her head, an elegy for the not-quite-dead. Some peonies placed beside her body, supine beneath the canopy of forgotten dreams. She…

Shambles          by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu July, 2018   Are you dazed at my glitter dress? Star struck by my mortal elegance? Do you worry about my ability to keep it together Better than glass shatters on concrete Despite the odds that…

Shape The View by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu November 2020     Shape the view Yes! You can How would I? There’s no art.   Shape the view With your eyes I see shapes I don’t draw.   Shape the view It calls you Answer and…

by Estevam Coelho (written in Galician-Portuguese) Translated by Richard Zenith If my friend only knew, today he’d go too: I’m off to the river to bathe, by the sea.   If he only knew where, he’d go with me there: I’m off to the river…

Songs of Love  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu February 2021       The months sing of the year passing, Adding unique tunes to make the string – Colours change, fade, and emerge, You just swim because you are submerged.   The second month sings of…

by Lanre Oguntoye         💥Oh thou teacher leave the wheel The wheel of learning, let it roll! Prepare the roads Pave way for the light Just be the spark Let thy learners navigate The wheel of learning, let it roll!   💥Oh!…

The Clod and the Pebble      by William Blake       “Love seeketh not itself to please,  Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair”.     So sung a little Clod…

by Finayon     …, and man ate the fruit, then everything changed. Pain in delivery Pain in labour What a tragedy The trouble began Manifestations of woes Brothers killing brothers Kingdom against kingdom With all the development and civilization, evil grew worse   Men…

The Magician    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu September 2018     As I lay on my pillow I think about the greens and the willow Dancing on the branches Were horses from the ranches   My gaze is fixed to the top of the tree…

The One My Hear Beats For by Damilola Adeyemi May 2021   Her name is Idaya But I love calling her Maya Because she is an angel’s replica Always dressed in her favourite attire Which is her native regalia.   Her skin glows like honey…

The Spirit of Christmas by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu             December 2020     The cold wind tells the tale, Beautiful as it may be, Snow falls, dust, and dew, From the wings of the world, We know it is time.   Time to celebrate, Time to…

The Sun Lights The Day    by Chinyere Nwosu November 2020     … And the sun smiled at dawn, drawing in all who saw the blessed beauty that came with the day,  and to step into it with glowing hope.   The sun shines…

There Is A Little Hero In Us All by Chinyere Nwosu    July 2021     As a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete And a flower course through the rock They sing of strength and tenacity that shame defeat….

Think About It Nigeria by Damilola Adeyemi May 2021     This is our country Nigeria. A lot of things is going on in this era; The giant of Africa, In a state of great diaspora.   During colonisation, we complained of, Hardship, slavery, forceful…

This is Lagos  by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu January 2021       Along the road today I saw many people, Some strolling, some driving and some standing and just waiting; Some sitting and chatting, some holding hands and loving; Some hugging in welcome, and some…

Thoughts    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu November 2020     I think of life I think of food I think of grace to see me through   I think of love I think of friends I think of laughter that gladdens my heart   I…

Through The Coloured Glass    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu          ‘Through the Coloured Glass’ is an except from the poetry anthology – Vials of Almonds Click to order a copy here at HQ Words Click to order a copy from Amazon   …

Together As One by Maxi-Pen    To the archaic decades We say good-bye To the promising future We embrace warmly   In one voice We echoed strongly For one nation With unbroken bond   Together as one, we’ve suffered Exploitation from the white-skinned Extortion from…

Trees    by Chinyere Enyim Nwosu November 2020       Tell the botanist about the lush Remind him of the days of the sprout Emerging from the ground, the green and the oak Extending to the heavens hoping to touch the blue sky So…

Weep Not Nigeria by Victor Oyewole     Weep not Nigeria for the joy we awaited has come Weep not Nigeria for justice seems right now Weep not Nigeria for democracy, no more drives us crazy Weep not Nigeria for the day is bright so…

What Happened to Us? by Gloria Urube   We used to be known as the land of the free With all the code of conduct, you can’t see Like a feather, all is whirled by the wind Gradually into thin air fuzzing out is our…

by Chinyere Nwosu   What would this day look like? A beautiful time to share, So, here at the mall, I smirk at the gift and just stare, Then, I turn my head and sway my hair from side to side with my phone in…