Culture Poems
Breaking News
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Did I hear you say the rocks
Have all been blasted?
And how about such impatient
Waters that must rush from their
Bowels?
We dance to the rough tunes
Of desolate death, here in this
Arid homestead. Gently, we shall
Commence the rituals for the
......
The Dream Of Wearing Shorts Forever
by Les Murray
To go home and wear shorts forever
in the enormous paddocks, in that warm climate,
adding a sweater when winter soaks the grass,
to camp out along the river bends
for good, wearing shorts, with a pocketknife,
a fishing line and matches,
or there where the hills are all down, below the plain,
to sit around in shorts at evening
......
Early One October Morning
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
The smell of humidor
Charmed the old house and
Frightened me as I ascended the
Narrow stairwell that gentle
October morning.
The song of autumn was playing
Low, and with astute grace.
Silent, the royal smell wafted between Cuba
And Denmark,
Across fat rank grass of fecund roots.
......
The Refugee Never Lied
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Burning fresco of a new-image rainbow
has glint and farewell lines for
departing birds...
The refugee pledges oaths
against lies towards the arch of a
gleaned pathway
The Way-between links Sodom
with by-way museums of salt in
......
Yesterday II
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Yesterday reclines on the tenuous
breath of ancestral drums,
and summons protocols for the crowning
of tomorrow.
A martinet, yonder, celebrates the sepia
aura in the spine of the vista of the last days;
atavism unfetters the imprecation of hastening
Dawns.
And angels lengthen azure apparels,
......
The Venue
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Terrains long dawdled on —
Long abandoned —
Among clammy and breeze-spiralling clusters of
Alien foliage —the Venue—
Dreaded and hidden in a moonless precinct,
Waking thoughts and compassion of domestic
Instruments and feeble-minded reptiles.
The Venue —gathering maisonettes of our sires —
The stonebox of jewellery of costly counsels,
Kernel eyes etched into its moss-ridden walls.
......
One-Minute Fool
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
At this road of congruity, has he frowned
At flagellation.
Abnegation has long ceased to be his watchword,
And conforming his values, has he arranged
His worth in sterling grace.
He's a sybarite, this philistine
In every sixty second has he guarded
His loincloth to blink at the
Naked day, but has prepared the ground
......
Mad Waters
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Mad waters come our way.
Seasons are gleaned from lean stems
beneath bloodless rocks;
thresholds, scorched, reprint footsteps
of dark ages replete with foul breath.
Alas, mad days are here.
And with clouds mourning near
disconsolate skies,
the heavens themselves lay siege on
......
Yesterday II
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Yesterday reclines on the tenuous
breath of ancestral drums,
and summons protocols for the crowning
of tomorrow.
A martinet, yonder, celebrates the sepia
aura in the spine of the vista of the last days;
atavism unfetters the imprecation of hastening
Dawns.
And angels lengthen azure apparels,
......
Yesterday
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Blithe humour yearns for
Pridian vagaries before now,
Trusting the mooring of able
Ships on clear waters of
Mirror images.
Wistful, our call on the sere
Tongue of harmattan, when
Pines whistled in unison to
Welcome straying and returning
Birds – black confetti over
......
