Poet-Today ~ Ojo Olumide Emmanuel ~ The Arts-Muse Fair

FRINGES

the steps to play lie is-

not to smile;

chew all the tickles below your jaws

even when it pinches you to laugh

at the fools you’re fooling

kick your legs on the ground

dazzle your eyes in rolls

hold your tummy on a long cough-

the same way mince-pies collude

call sweats to your face

in many drizzles

place your handkerchiefs on a hay day

and allow those around

to greet sorry in many miles-

sleeves and pity

allow them recount their tales of pneumonia

and survival

garner truckloads of sympathy with wails and blames

after all

 the world is for those whose tongue-

appear in folds

a hand apart for the tip

a waist line for the blade...

 in abraded manifestoes

and in denial.

TINGES

some solicitude saturates-

from the marrow to the vein

others turn scalps, scars...

i heard my mind say:

those who die in wars are not the only victims

they are only casualties of numbers

the dailies and the government in long-

comparison of accuracy notes

four score fatality, two score injured

no! wrong reportage

one score, ten broken teeth...

those who survive to tell the stories are the real casualties

they live with ghosts in their sitting rooms’

at times these ghosts mannequin parleys in their minds

yes a boy, a ghost

 seeking his kite in the cold

a girl crying of her flower trampled by boots

lacerated into puzzles

bones fleeing from the flesh

on a last charge...

like blue litmus in acid

a metaphor of when men dipped-

their hearts in jars of chillies

the land is ploughed in reds

and miseries... death is the harvest

our lips are dried of prayer

and amen seems a ten pound weight

i don’t remember where i heard it that-

adults are the problem of the world

for in this long queue of despair

children are innocent pieces of scrabbles

shuffled into unknown places.

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Ojo Olumide Emmanuel is a writer, teacher and a spoken word artist. His Poems and Essays have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies. He is a member of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation in Minna where he is a Mentor and the Librarian. He is the Curator of the Monthly Wakaso Prize for Poetry and Abubakar Gimba Prize for Short Fiction both administered by Hill-Top Creative Art Foundation, Minna.