Poetry

By

Echezonachukwu Nduka

A Day after Your Graduation

i

You smile to dreamland assured that your

clock’s alarm would wake you at dawn.

You rush to class everyday to see your world start with Dr. Anne’s

first marker stroke on the board and  a homework that kills your sleep.

You say no to all party calls and make the library

a second home. Those books must bear your burdens; or vice versa.

Someday, you would write yours and have people read your thoughts

and save them in their minds and shelves too…

You detest wine and beers.

Best brains are never preserved in alcohol, you would argue

and take your leave; tucking in your shirts and flying your ego.

You lose weight during exams and giggle at the A’s

that grace your score sheet. You make a first class!

The world must awake and await your arrival.

ii

A day after your graduation,

you would stand before a panel whose countenances

inform you that the world awaits nobody.

The impressive paper that has become your

dream will lose its glamour and like a film,

the world would splash before your eyes; leaving them wet.

A day after your graduation,

you would dress the part to meet a man in suit that soothes his stress.

He would look at your paper, nodding steadily like a lizard.

‘You are quite brilliant and impressive’, he would say while

handing your paper back to you. Afterwards, excuses would

flow like a river and carry you back whence you came.

The next day, you would taste a drink or two,

And perhaps, light a cigarette too.

The shame must go with its smoke.

A day after your graduation,

you would walk twenty miles in your

 shoes until the soles are gone with the pride in your hands.

A day after your graduation,

you would walk away,  backing the world you once knew

and finding your path to your own new world.

Louisa-Louisa

When my pen gathered dust

And blank pages mocked my desk-

You sang a song that pleased my muse.

Louisa-Louisa

Bring with you your guitar and poems

Here sits a bard with tender emotions

Turning pages of torn memories

That made his muse a god on exile.

Your song is medicine for the gods.

Louisa-Louisa

Carry with you that portrait of forests

Where quotes are written on leaves and shrubs

Pointing in the direction of lone pathways

Where lights are hung on the pathway towers.

Your painting is the road to bliss.

Louisa-Louisa

Bring with you the book of stories

Where dead folks speak of signs and sufferings

That blinds the eyes of visionary men

Who lose their wit to magicians’ charms.

Your stories are conquered crusades.

Louisa-Louisa

Tap those rhythms that make you dance

And bring with you your dancing shoes

There’s one more dance left in my room

Where rhythms are hidden in my drums’ skin.

Your steps are made in Panama.

Louisa-Louisa

Is there a new art hiding on your hairs?

Take my quests with you, O Louisa.

Echezonachukwu Nduka

Echezonachukwu Nduka is a Nigerian creative writer and musicologist. He is the Bronze Prize Winner of the 4th Korea-Nigeria Poetry Feast. His writings have been published in several reputable literary journals and international poetry anthologies. Aside from being a literary enthusiast, he is a trained classical concert pianist and organist with a degree in Music from the University of Nigeria. Currently, Echezonachukwu is a Postgraduate Research Student of Music in Kingston University London, UK.