Africa

AFRICA
(to africans in diaspora)

africa here i come, africa
africa of the black soul
the soul of an ancient culture
the culture of your timid tribes.

its your voice i hear africa
your voice of the talking drums
your beaded drums and the royal trumpeter
the metal gong of your town crier

i have come to see your music dance
i have heard of your ageless minstrels
have i not heard of your swinging hips!
i have heard enough and have come to watch
wouldn't you dance for me africa

africa here i come africa
would you not show me to your tribes
the timid tribes of your sweetened tongues
the varied tongues of your virtuous men

africa, black soul africa
tell me about your gods
your gods of the sky and of the mother earth
your gods of the hills and of the rivers abound

show me to your kings africa
your kings of the ancient dynasty
the ancient dynasty of rusted spear and shield
africa, here i come africa

HEAVENLY GUEST

heavenly guest
heralding thunderously
in its own awake
pelting on men
as well, the gods
gathering itself
drop by drop.

as rivulets you flow
passing on slopes abound
downward,
it's rhythm goes -
romancing all corners
cutting out its lonely paths
along our farmstead's.

beside your gathered pools
we stand
with tears of joy
naked
we danced
we played
making mounds of wetted soil
splashing
little you, unto us

seasonally guest
you have grown -
at length,
in breath,
we are in you
you in us

CONCEPTION

My father,
out of your seeds
emerged i,
millions of us swarm across the eggling waters
looking for her, that harbours
and, i the chosen morphed into fluids
...the races of life began at conception

dear mother,
days stumbled into months
egglings, from your womb harboured me
and the fluids formed into being
enshrouded in you, body and soul;
eating and sucking all day long
...this, is the making of me

...DETENTION

distanced we sat, barred from
spoken words
masked, our lives became one
volume of thoughts race
our troubled minds
ideas,
morphed into forms
flow among us

...unspoken,
we had said volumes
neither by mouth nor scribbles
of our dried fountains
we have rocked minds;
and shared unchained thoughts
... who can seal or hold in captive
a troubled mind

DRAUGHT

tensed we watched
as our fathers before us, has done
we watched as dawn streaks across the neighing sky
another day has come
with it, hope that lingers

we watched as the crops, whither
as the herds stifle by the river beds
we saw the cracks all around us
and, the sun
scorched harshly upon us

we watched as the skies refuse
to fall its tears and to succor our parching thirst
the field has broken, in piece!
threatening,
to welcome our weakening bones

MAN

i appreciate
adore
praise
envy
the habitats called man

i worship
sanctified
consecrate
glorify
God, that created man

i'm disappointed
betrayed
disgusted
dismayed
in the very nature of man

poems by Chime, Hilary Uchenna

Chime, Hilary Uchenna works as a creative artist in Lagos, Nigeria. He graduated as a painter in the Fine Arts Department, of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. A traditional artist to the core, who gradually has transformed into the world of digital arts. He trained as an interactive multimedia developer, his works span from illustrations to image, video and audio editing. He has worked extensively on several multimedia CD titles, he exhibits occasionally, and have his works in private and public collections.

To him poetry comes naturally, he believes it is an extension of his canvass and 'paint' he must, either with colours or in words. He draws his topics from his immediate environment and imagery from Igbo folklore. He is currently preparing a collection of his poetry and short stories which he hopes to publish soon.

Sun-Sentinel.com

Less poetry, music but big Miami book fair goes on The Associated Press MIAMI — Poetry and music have been cut and there will be no parade to kick off the Miami Book Fair International as in years past. ... Leading ladies of the book fair: Novelist, poet kick off Book FairMiamiHerald.com all 117 news articles »

AFTERNOON OF POETRY Norwalk Plus Magazine Friends of the late Herb Davison will honor his memory with an afternoon of poetry hosted by local poet Ira Joe Fisher at The Ferguson Library Sunday, ... and more »

Billy Collins does a 180 with poetry Charleston Gazette 16 at Fairmont State University, served two terms as the country's Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. He held the post from 2001 ...

Diyala poetry festival shows signs of peace in Iraq Xinhua 6 (Xinhua) -- Basim al-Dafaie, an Iraqi poet, was optimistic when he saw the restoration of art and poetry festival in his province of Diyala after four ... and more »

Jamaica Gleaner

'The Sweetness of Poetry and Tings' Jamaica Gleaner The Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts presents 'The Sweetness of Poetry and Tings' - a lunch-hour concert featuring Joan Andrea Hutchinson, ...

Washington Post

The architect's own place, small but full of poetry and surprise Washington Post But his basic design premise remains unchanged: "Your day starts and ends in your house -- it should have some poetry and some surprises because your house ...

Poet arrives 'out of the blue' to take Aldeburgh first poetry collection prize guardian.co.uk "I had hoped it might affect people in the way books have affected me in the past," the poet said on winning the prize at the 21st Aldeburgh poetry festival ...

Times LIVE

With her American accent and 'big ass', she is performance poetry personified Times LIVE In 2002 I discovered the Joburg underground scene and the Jungle Connection in Doornfontein, which used to host lots of poetry sessions - and which was ...

Editorial Ultramar Launches Miami Hispanic Poetry Collection Reuters ... de Miami" ("The City of Possible Unity, A Collection of Miami Poetry"), a book featuring more than 100 Spanish-language poems by 32 Hispanic writers. ... and more »

Write poetry to help the homeless (plus see our poems of the day) StarNewsOnline.com One of our offerings is a poetry reading. I know that with that being a weekday you would probably not be able to make it to Hillsborough, NC for this event ... Robert PinskyThe Southeast Review Online Former poet laureate Pinsky will jazz things up at FSUTallahassee.com all 4 news articles »