Author: Gbolabo Adetunji

Life is good. However,  life is sometimes hard. Thinking can make it even harder. Affirmations can easily fall short of expectations. Staying positive can become a chore but it is worth it in the end. It is better to get better than to get bitter. I have learned that it is better to live with gratitude than to live with attitude. If I err on the side of attitude, I will make it an attitude of gratitude. People say the sun is always shining, we just don't always see it.  I have found that whether you are in the prison or in the palace, you can still be a blessing to others. Most people want to help make this world a better place but many do not know where to start. I have found that the first place to start is right in my own head. If I do a good job there, I can work outwards from there and bless others. This site is a personal blog about the things I need to keep telling myself -not too many things. Just the simple fact that very little is required to make life happy.  As simple as that sounds, I need to prove it in my mind every day, time and again. I do this through my passion for prose, free verses, and non-factional opinions. I think everyone needs  "blink and blank" moments, an escape, a break, a time-out from everything. I find that in reading. When reading doesn't do it, I write. With either of these comes endless possibilities- insight, inspirations, insight, innovations, imaginations, and all manners of intuition. Even illusions and visions all come true in a world of words! I do this because, as they say, “ The dark valleys of life often slide in unannounced.” Nonetheless,  as the saying goes, "It is still better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." I am neither a seasoned poet nor a tutored one. I am a hobbyist. I love poetry and I have deep respect for poets. I believe everyone that has a mind, a pen and an experience can write a verse. These are essentially my therapy notes.  My joy will multiply if these musings ever help anyone that stumbles on them. This blog is not monetized. All photos featured on this site are either my own or were acquired from free photo sharing sites which do not require any attribution. 

Opaque Reflections

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in affirmation

Dear Mirror

Here I come

With no drum rolls

Only worn scrolls

Of apologies

Your spree of prowess

Is all the rumor

That lingers in town

 

I spent the years

Peering at you

Only to see

If my tie was eerie

And thought of you

Merely to refine

Intangible bits

Of receding hairline

 

But now I heard

That you have ears

And look I see

You’ve acquired vision

So you stand here

My only witness

As I recite

My affirmations

 

For being less than great

But more than mediocre

Romancing averages

Conjuring excuses

I’ve come to attest

I’ll make no protest

And so much better

Will stand

I will affirm

You’ll do the rest

 

And if this works

How the tittle-tattle goes

’Twill be a great life

I promise

It will

 

Cavalier Concern

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Attitude

I used to idolize the gods

Exalted the words of men

Cherished the ratings of earthlings

Drank from the Psalter

of their praise

And shrank at  the altar

of censorial remarks

Melted  at  the shrine

of stark appraisals

I used to worship

the goddess of opinions

But she has drained me

of every honor left

Shredded every fiber

of residual esteem

And sapped all  treasures

Of accrued values

She speaks and goes to sleep

I hear and know no peace

So I emerged with emptiness

Like a famished lioness

Resolved to find my worth

In quietness and confidence

Listening only to one voice

Hearing only an intuition

Cheering on  only one king

The one that reigns

Within my heart.

Rough Edges

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Letting Go, Uncategorized

The cock crows at dawn

telling you to get attached

Your bladder nudges

yelling it’s time to let go

The difference

between the two

is just as knotty

as your next poker move

The contrast is set

in concrete

evoking smiles and heartaches

Don’t learn nothing

from the past

All your valuable lessons

Are molded

into this moment

image

credit

explore

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Future History

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Uncategorized

I wrote a good plot

maybe

not a candid yarn

that we’ll all make it

home at nightfall

that the breaking news

will bring smiles to our faces

every sunset

that we’ll all be friends and lovers

evermore

 

 

but herein is life

with its bold snigger

almost a grin

guarantees

are fantasies

uncertainties

reek of truths

changes

reign forever

 

 

Maybe

our freedom starts

when we  break loose

the addictions to certitude

when we take up

the sour courage

when we face squarely

the queer unknown

with a  parallel smile

leaning onto

sober hope

 

 

like an octopus on roller skates

life will spring surprises

and we’ll  cross the abrupt bridges

when we get there

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credit

retrospective

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Uneasy Rest

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in sleep, stubborn

I wish to know

How you found your peace

How you discovered the courage

That puts you to slumber at dark

 

 

I am dying to find

The deities that smiled at your eyes

That told their lids to shut untethered

How your mind finds restrain

To the corners of your crib

As mine travels

To yesterday, tomorrow and where

 

 

I wish to see

Why the night choose you

As its golden child

Why you die every night

Like a timber of wood

And wake up reborn

Like a term neonate

Whilst I march to the labor camp

Thinking I lay my head to rest

 

 

I wish to know how you got to Eden

In solitude

While I languish in Goshen

Unhinged

 

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observe

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Sad Optimist

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in unbroken, worried

You can cry a river

Or a cupful of soul

You may shed

Till the tears make rhythms

Like mallets on marimbas

The heart can still perceive

What the eyes can still receive

A stream  of tears

Never suffices

Never drowns

The eyes that strewn it

But you must be valiant

Dare to open those eyes

To see the things up on high

Always

At the obscure corner

Of  scrutiny

There lies a different view

Other than the one

That snuffs your breath

The monsters that lie before you

Have powers  much less than

Your view of them

 

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kenza

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mallet

 

Perfect Misfit

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Allergies

A world without honey

Or honey without bees

A world without flowers

Or flowers without petals

A world without stigma

Or stigmas without ovules

But if all these must be

Pray may I have

Just one wish

A perfect world

One  without pollens

For without pollens

Days of sorrows

Shrink

Days of dyspnea

Wane

I can exhale

And inhale

With no cares

In the world

And the drips

From these nostrils

Can take a break

Without pollens

I can join the folks

That burst with joy

At the triumphant

Entry of spring

 

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credits

wonder

 

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Course

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Uncategorized

I was told

I am the sole captain

Of my ship

The  chief architect

Of my building

Did they not say

If I fail

If I succeed

I will be praised

I will be blamed

It will all be

My own making

I charted a course

I set my sail

I gave my life

A sense of direction

But here am I

In strange waters

Here I am

In parallel strokes

With unknown sharks

Here am I

Lurking between

Unseen reefs

Swirling between

Unfriendly eels

Despite

All my preparation

Life happens

Notwithstanding

All my determination

Plans fail

Here am I

Lost ashore

I cannot cry

Salt water stings

More than my tears

Why try cry

The shades of twilight

Are soon to be swallowed

By trenches of gloom

Am I alive

It’s still so painful

Pain is  a sign

A symptom of life

Death is yet a myth

Shrouded in reality

Is it my strides

Is it just life

Is it all right

Is it alright

To leap and land

In the very same

Lost spot

I am alive

There is work

To stay afloat

The storms are happy

Those storms

They’re going nowhere

I ‘ve got places to go

I’ll go

With my scars

I’ll go

With all the pains

I’ll go

Without the past

Good

Or bad

I’ll live my life the fullest

I will pursue a rescue

I will purchase a cure

I will peruse sustenance

I’ll cling on to something

If there be  nothing

I’ll hold

On to perspective

The waves have wheels

I just need to pedal

Obstacles have springboards

I just need to launch

Rafts can ride the storms

I just need to hold fast

There is a shore at sight

I just need to wipe my tears

I am ready
To ride the storms
On the wings of the waves
I am ready
To turn my chains
Into  roses
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viable



anna waldherr
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Choose

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Uncategorized

I saw you swear

You are a black man

Never heard you yell

Except in quietude

You do not dream

Whilst staying awake

Or stay alive

while dying inside

Never heard  you  cry

While you shed the tears

You have not spoken

Without using your voice

You have not touched

When you love and look

Or tell  to all

What  you do  mean

Without being mean

If you’re keen

You would have seen

You are quite tough

But not thick-skinned

You are brotherly

A man

Or  utterly

Black

Of such a thing-

As  a black man

Have I not heard

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credit

black

 

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Weaves

by Gbolabo Adetunji, posted in Uncategorized

would you know

what makes people

stick long together

love is a glue

love is hard

love is tricky

comes too quick

goes too soon

yet people stay

not for lust

just for respect

there  is one

not the other

but without passion

with regard lacking

everyone flees abroad

or shrink aboard

when these go

respect and love

and some stay

it’s called abuse

it’s deemed prison

it is war

captive and captor

inmate and warden

partner and abuser

an unholy alliance

things that once

went all around

stand motion still

an ugly picture

carved in debris

of dreary memory

hold onto them

don’t let go

they are fabrics

the paper textiles

covering all the

things we adore

yet easily torn

by ego cascades

and fleeting feelings

hold onto them

if they go

we are gone

 



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credit

neighbors

 

 

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