Poetry

CC photo

By

Umar Yogiza Jr.

hike across the atlantic

scarlet lips

etched

hidden woes with solitary plans

cracked opened by a kiss

pains hidden in desires

finds their way home

plodded through mediterranean joy

which also means grief

sun by their sorrows and pains

bickering souls

split

swallowed by the violence

that may put food on their table

oppressed

cried for the scarbeam

that lights their dying dreams

that no conscience want to light

unimprovable progression

I

a deserted street in my heart

opened a narrow pathway

thorned by arrows of indecisions

dreams sauntered silently

avoiding a taxicab of reality

heart of unanswered prayers

shattered like irreparable glass

cloudy street unsafe

silence, silence, silence

the guilts worshiped fears

i see nobody but arrows

of celestial indecisions

stagnant like abandoned flood water

i, a worshipper of broken thorns

refused admission

II

thirsty

broken and seduced

scorched by debauched past

who reshaped us into the concrete walls

that hold us prisoner

the silent jailhouse

factory of broken dreams

called patriotism

home that seized our heaven bound prayers

hear me cry

the scars i called a country

contoured me

into unimprovable progression

flower of pains

plethora of buried darkness

red rose of blood ferry out

through unmerciful mediterranean

different generation same thieves

different election same thieves

values broken

hope throttled into paradise of fear

we are rendered thirsty

broken and seduced

for a bloody combat

forced to called our scars dimple

a keeper of our pains

hear me, a parrot of ink

Umar Yogiza Jr.

Umar Yogiza Jr. is a writer, poet and engineer based in Abuja, Nigeria. No. 47, Amure Omanza Street, Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, Garki II, Abuja. He is the author of Instrument of Immortality and Singing In A Bonfire. His works have appeared in anthologies, journals and online platforms.