Author: Gbolabo Adetunji

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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retrospective

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

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viable



anna waldherr

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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black

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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neighbors