INVESTMENT OR INVESTMESS?

By: Bankole Kolawole (2014)

They rode on Glitches
Stole in batches
The many fishes
Of the River of Milk and M(h)onies

A certain Dr. Luck
Invested few token pennies
A "tintini" one billion of our national currency
On mere kitchen utensils
What an InvestMESS!

Over 200 Beauties
Sent as tourists to wizards and witches
In Northern Borno Bushes
On a journey of horrible near-misses.

They spoke and fickled
Helmets in cycles
Then Hell-scent for nostrils
Hunger-oats as pastries
The returns for sweat-scented skins
Who sticked thumbs on thick ink without rethink.

Oh Where is Mrs. Nemesis?
Or Mr. Posterity from the genesis
Or Madam Justice; all seem pierced to pieces
As PoliTRICKcians and LegisLOOTERS squander currencies
Injecting the emotions of nationals with hurting "acriMOANINGS"

Yet,.. all seem stories for the gods and goddesses
As profiting Prophets and Prophetesses pointedly prophetizes
A shoeless and clueless Preacher of 'stenched' air
The consensus Emeritus Sailor for this tower of Milk and M(h)onies...

Even as scores of pupils await Death visits
With their peers blown to pieces
The returns on hard-earned pennies
presented to perfectly poverty-painted parents
What an InvestMESS!!

But...
Let Nigerians without penitence, but with dumb thumbs for second chances
Dance the tune of loud silences
Played on gnashing teeth and nail biting strings
With plenty of hopeful hopelessness
Welcome waiting RAGING free doom in sevens and sixes

Or

Halt these SINators with sin-nature as signatures
Tease those Hoodlums to grace their fund-bearers with bomb letters
The teeming masses bask in fun era at their funeral masses
The returns for our investments NOT this InvestMESS
Then, the Land will again flow with milk and m(h)onies
Breathe the breath of fresh air, not this stenched air.

As we welcome back our stolen fishes of the River of Milk and M(h)onies.


PS: 'tintini' is a Yoruba (one of Nigeria's three major language) word for 'minute' or 'tiny'

The above is a spoken word poem once performed at WarOfWords (4) Poetry Slam Competition (2014) held at TerraKulture, Victoria Island, Lagos-Nigeria. See video link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_idTbuuJ-_o


Bankole Kolawole (formerly BanKoL, now BankHALL) is a fast-growing spoken word artiste based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Editor's note

The poem centers on the level of impunity daily thriving in Nigeria, Africa's most populated nation. It captures what transpires before, during and after voting for democratically elected officers.

Photo credit: princessadetutu.blogspot.com

DANCE OF SHAME

This dance of shame
on the cavities of them
screeching guilt into our innocence.

To fly wings to that land of plenty,
from tenths of hundreds of cents
for these sinful saints.

We shall dance till our legs wobble;
like onward soldiers of old;
Sowing murmuring coins
into their living room of fleets and planes.

But, we shall, on the path of soon thrill
their collars with dancing knives
and humble guns,
to free our innocence from forceful guilt.

BankHALL (2016)

#PIN10DaysPoetryChallenge
#DanceOfShame

Photocredit: israelpalestine-speedy.blogspot.com

S.O.S

(By Paul Word)

To the ones that stay in the creek

to those that reek of poverty to them i say SOS

when I say SOS, I don’t just mean Save Our Soul

but lets Save Our Selves

We're tired of this Shitty Operating System

where young female adult can keep their jobs as long as they play along the Sex Or Sack policy,

we reside within a society where guys exalt Sex Over Sanctity,

this same society that practice System Of Suit

suiting alone the rich and not the poor

so please SOS, Save Our Society.

They've made us Survive On Scraps

leaving us hungry within the plentiful of our land

making our lives look like a Swim Or Sink affair,

we're tired of this Same Old Situation

our soldiers no longer Shoot On Sight

cause their vision has been impaired

no food to make them fit and prepared

can't you read the Sign Of Stress written on their forehead

so please, SOS Support Our Soldier.

Our students no longer know the Strength Of Schedule

they waste their time on Facebook updating

pointless status that won't raise their Status Over Self

stat like "missing my boo"

but I hope one day I’ll see a "K" after the "boo",

we need a Structure Operating System

where our students can understand the importance of Service Over Self

and not Strawberries On Shortcakes

so please SOS, Save Our Students

They'll continue to Suck Our Savings

if we don’t see pass this Smoke Obscuring Screen

so please let’s start Something Of Significance

cause this Poli-Trick-Cian

are Sadist On Seat

more like Sons Of Satan,

they created this System Of Suit to suit themselves

so let’s Stand On Stones and Send Our Signal

to correct this System Of Suit

so please SOS, Save Our System.

Silent Or Scream?

Sit Or Stand?

Stagnation Or Speed?

Which one would you pick

When you're confronted with the right to keep silent

so let's Stand Over Sin and Set Our Sight on this truth

and Sail Our Ship to that ass-hole rock

and rock them with the truth,

so when next they hear us say SOS

they'll know we don’t just mean

Save Our Souls but let Save Ourselves.

EDITORS’ NOTE:

This was Paul Word’s award winning  spoken word piece, performed at WarofWords Season 4 Slam Poetry Competition organized by King Olulu’s i2x Media (2014)

To see more of Paul Words' performance, you may check:

PAUL WORD - SOS
http://wordupnaija.tv/s-o-s-by-paul-word-winner-of-war-of-words-season-4/

PAUL WORD - INVESTMENT @WOW4
http://wordupnaija.tv/why-invest-in-education-by-paul-word/

PAUL WORD PERFORMS DEMONCRACY AT CPM - GREATER GLORY CONFERENCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrIh1pBrKAo

PAUL WORD AND IFEANYI BERNARD - DEATH AND DREAMS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qARr2lJO2O8

LOVE IS WITHOUT SIGHT.

Love was meant to find a way
Walking confidently into the confines of our hearts
Seamlessly joining our souls like Siamese twins.
.
Love was meant to be a map
Guiding us all through life
While we tour this world of ours.
.
Love was meant to be the spice
Spicing our homely home
Tantalizing our humble abode.
.
But. !
.
What happens when love missed its way?
'A walking weakling walking wearily down the lane'.
Then its true, love is blind.
.
Love begins to lose it longitudinal altitude
Soiled its attractive attitude
Which attribute would you then attach such attrition that cannot be attuned?
.
Love is without sight, I insist.
This isn't just about someone's painful plight.
For I've seen lust clothed as love.
.
Let me then, chip in this cheap expensive piece.
If ever you fall in love, get a glove.
Never get your hands soiled.

©Akinlade Oluwaseyifunmi Sky™ 2015.

UniVANITY Class

Where sober studies secures no surety for pass
If you know no one, you are a solemn smart-ass
Alas!
What is left of what is right in this university class?
Where students are packed together like the burial of the mass
If you are at the extreme, you need aid from an eye glass.
What is left of what is right in this university class?

Where a lass
Will put on skimpy things to display the flower in her vase's verse.
The thought of avoiding her is an impasse.
Who is to be blamed if she were harassed?
The beautiFOOLS buy pass with their asses
Whereas
The lads dare not play the tune of trespass
Lest they dance SHOKI to the rhythm of repass.
What is left of what is right in this university class?
where we queued at the school's ATM point as
Chelsea fans expecting goal from Fabregas
And I heard from behind a sounding bass
"O boy, commot make I pass"
I looked back and saw a cock-like guy with a comb of "Gallas"
I varnished like gas
Because the guy is a cult brass.

What is left of what is right in this university class.
Where I picked a book from the library's glass
And cockroaches ran to greet me en masse,
Because the library and the books' ages have passed.
Those who top the class
Graduated with lower class
While truants top with an undeserved first class.
The riot of the Alutas
Cause the breaking of school glasses.
Lecturers are on the run, escaping from cutlasses.
Students are led away by SARS
In black marias.
Their future is barred behind bars
Alas!

What is left of what is right in this university class?
Aquila's skimpy things isn't just an entertaining farce
GRRaciano's 12 Million Nonsense's SCENEsation isn't in planet Mars
You, you and you seated waiting to be razzed
By these lines spat by these poets will surely clean shave and surpass
The debris and edicts cascading from Asshole rock's carcass
Yes I'm optimistic because this is what is left of what is right,
Uni-vanity class.


PS:
SHOKI is a type of dance in Nigeria.
Like the former Arsenal Defender's style, William Michael Gallas..., "Gallas" is an haircut. Aluta is a name for Nigerian students' lawful protest.


Copyright. OLAYINKA SAMSON AREMU "PoeTHICK SAMurai" (2014)



YOU MAY WISH TO SEE HOW THIS PIECE WAS PERFORMED HERE:

http://wordupnaija.tv/what-is-left-of-what-is-right-by-poetic-samurai/