Poetry

Reuters photo

By

MD Mbutoh

Thorns in Cameroon’s Heart

Yesterday we climbed up the world’s tallest

Ladder and denied before an anxious world

That we didn’t have problems in the house!

But before twilight, state emissaries climbed

On internet wires with sharpened

Pincers nibbling fibre cables and waving

False white flags in the face of a people

Blinded by anger, frustration, and injustice.

Late night uniforms stole youthfulness like

Predators steal bodies and souls

In the middle of cruelty. Brute force planted

The thorns of hatred in Cameroon’s heart in

The darkness that all of us made in broad

Day. It’s dawn and all of us are drinking

From the well of mucus that all dug!

The state has become the monopolizer of

Violence, picking quarrels with outsiders

Who dare point out the faeces on our pants.

Our hearts pump blood in our breath and the

Streets in Pinyin, Batibo, Bali, and co flood

On rivers of blood.

Yesterday Ambassador Balerin was pulled

To the populace chair for raising a finger

To cry foul over excesses, and today our

Grandfathers woke up from the graves to

Foam in Pinyin, Bali, Batibo, and co. We’ve

Become that which we used to dread.

We have become draculas to ourselves

How long, dear world? How long shall blind

Brutes stab peace in the heart like Caesar’s?

There are millions of needles in our hearts,

Pricking our throats from Northwest to the

Interiors of Southwest. Shall we all be ghosted

By blind guns, to wake up actors of

Peace, and negotiators?

MD Mbutoh

MD Mbutoh is an award winning Cameroonian poet who is restless about the human condition. His area of interest includes human rights, gender awareness, good governance, international policy and public action. He has works published in journals, newspapers, and anthologies in countries like India, Ghana, Nigeria, UK, Cameroon, and USA. His latest poetry collections are: Dance of the Kangaroos (2018), published by Spears Media Press, USA and Refugee Republic (2017) published by America Star Books, USA.