Reuters photo
By
Ngozi Olivia Osuoha
Killing Is A Custom
The essence of defence is to border the bothered
But here, they ambush when lonely
And waylay when crowded.
The gun in uniform is a deform to the form
And a worm to our norm,
Hence, killing is a custom.
Hitherto, they have killed
They have ambushed,
They have waylaid
And they have not bordered
Why we are bothered,
Nor bothered
Why we should be bordered.
The shores, bordering the coasts
And the coasts bothering the shores,
A clone of a drone that hovers
Disturbing the peace of the people.
A gun in uniform, forming a performance
Of a uniformed gun, performing in accordance
Against a people in concordance.
The soot on our root
The boot against our foot,
The shoot they loot
And the loot they shoot,
A sooth they say smooth.
Killing is a custom
Whether by condom,
Customizing a customer to an unknown fate
The custody and custodian of boundaries.
Murder by mother
Brutality by brother
Slaughter by sister
Fraternity by father,
Killing by kinsmen
Hanging by humans
War by women
Mob by men
Why wonder needlessly
If killing is a custom.
If I Lived In Aso Rock
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would not turn it a quarry,
I would not bury the coins
Nor counterfeit the Naira,
It would royally be like Burkingham
And visitor-friendly like White House.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would not be a hunter
Hunting wild and domestic games,
I would make plain my mission,
Intending no ulterior motives
Yes, I would be that frank.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would honourably resign
If I turn or seem incompetent
Rather than look negligent,
I would neither be stiff nor deaf
Yes, I would not be tribalistic.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would not be a hurricane,
Landslide, typhoon, cyclone,
Earthquake, volcano or tsunami
No, I would be showers of blessings
I would not be too strange.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would not bomb the budget,
No weird fleet of cars
No absurd nor inhumane jets
I would be the peoples’ lift
Ladder, carrier and provider.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would be the peoples’ gladiator
Their hope and radiator
Their friend and monitor,
Their coat and protector
Their healer and doctor.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would scrape old faces
Not listen to fairy tales
Bring fresh and young minds
To help clean the mess
Yes, I would take the stress.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would be a mentor
And not a captor
I would be a reactor
Specially from the creator
I would guide His flock.
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would be a fountain
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would not be a politician
If I lived in Aso Rock
I would just be a NIGERIAN
Nobody Would Unseat Me
I am a soldier
The head of state
I stop terror
And fight corruption,
Nobody would unseat me.
I am herdsman
I own cattle
I am a nomad
And a cattle rearer
Nobody would unseat me.
I am a Messiah
I came from above,
Born to rule
I am not lazy,
Nobody would unseat me.
I shoot at sight
Because I have the might,
Though I cause a blight
Even at night,
Nobody would unseat me.
My palms, my ears, my brain
My mother tongue, my language
My name is da-ura
So I can sleep on duty,
Nobody would unseat me.
Nobody would unseat me
Hear it loud and clear
I rule, I kill, I fly around
I smile with my crocodile
I dance with my Python
To keep my corridor safe,
You dare not unseat me.
I terrorize terror
And corrupt corruption;
This territory is for cooperation.
Dear Ballot Box
I hear you are loaded
Loaded and ready to offload
To spray bullets
And let them stray,
Firing a squad
A squad to scratch and snatch.
Dear ballot box
Green, white, green
Wooden, metallic
Greener than blood
Redder than flesh.
Capital capitalist capitalism
Capitalizing unlawfully
A chameleon from the specie of leopard
Changeful cobra that spits
Spare us your tears o crocodile
Dance alone at the market square
O Python.
Ultraviolet rays so scorching
Gravitational pull that severs unions
Hateful, vengeful, bitter
Angry, and raging waves
Direct current so alternating
The incident, the refracted, the normal
So abnormal a light
Opaque, and transparently opaque
A glass prism of blurred vision.
Rotten root, hot plot
Shooting offshoot, beyond shores
Rotten cotton, punches at ranches
Ranches for punches, a hunched brunch.
Dear ballot box
I hear you are full
Full, fuller fullest
Filled to the brim
Outpouring, outgoing, outlawing
An explosive so expensive
Expanded and exaggerated
Unenlightened, archaic and backward.
Lost but found
Sunk, sinking underground
Drunk, drinking abound
Box, boxing a boxer
Scratching as scripted
So spirited, unmerited
Box, beckoning.
Loaded gun, coded
Folded arm, decoded
Moulded pot, done
Muddy, shabby, floppy
A lobby as hobby
A hobby to lobby,
Dancers, criers, lookers
Performers, charmers, harmers
Hammers hammering the harmed
Roofs ablaze, a gaze at raze
The maze of complexity.
Grasshoppers, butterflies, locust
Cloudy, moody, sloppy
A tale of thunder
A take on lightening
The sound of adventure
Land of scorning scorner.
Voices yelling, yet unheard
Faces smiling, yet unhappy
Singers singing, yet not dancing
A pot cooking a spot
Spotted, to be blotted
General lot, dotting a line.
Troubled sea troubling the land
Tossed, tidal waves waving the flag
Bruised legs wearing some rag
Same game of blame
Shameful, shaming the shameless.
Dear ballot box
The ball is not in the box
Fear not the fox
For the pox is not an ox.
Attacks, murders, terrors and wars
Horrors, blunders, and broken jaws;
Soft, quiet, shy, reluctant, compromise.
Cows, how’s, bows and arrows
Sorrows, hollows, and gallows
Mirrors, errors of fellows
Aside, sided, One-sided; presided
Curious and desperate.
See, dear ballot box
Reader, card, card reader
These thumbs fume in fury.
Harlot of disharmony
Delilah of death
Judas of the kiss
Prodigal vagabond, a solid bond.
Milkless breasts, empty womb
Hungry tomb, deadly feasts
This yeast is so bitter.
Ngozi Olivia Osuoha
Ngozi Olivia Osuoha is a Nigerian graduate of Estate Management with experience in Banking and Broadcasting. She has published over one hundred poems in over ten countries. Her two longest poems of 355 and 560 verses are available on amazon, THE TRANSFORMATION TRAIN and LETTER TO MY UNBORN respectively. She is a passionate African ink.
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