Culture Poems
Discrimination
by Adelaide Rhead
Why do you think you're better
If your culture is not the same?
Yes, maybe you seem different
But deep inside all are the same.
Why do they think they're better?
If one is black and one is white,
If one is man and one is woman.
They are the same, that is their right.
......
I Confess to a Certain Winter Night
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
The ceremony does not begin until
We hear the silent splattering of the
Snowflakes upon the shuttered mildewed
Windows lined under the haggard trees—
And by then,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show must have
Ended as fast as it had begun —
Behind the faces of muted clocks that
Tick and drop frozen nuts on the carapaces of
Slow-protesting tortoises on broad-day-light
......
There's A Dark Cloud Over My Head
by Leon Thomas Lee
There is a dark cloud over my head
With every move i make, every step i take
It keeps following me
Lord you know i want to free
Dark clouds, dark clouds, dark clouds
Now as the rain begins to fall, i feel so small
I'm always getting wet with the rain of prejudice
Look there is a mist of discrimation
And the fog of injustice
Dark clouds, dark clouds, dark clouds hanging over my head
......
The Halt Before Rome--September 1867
by Algernon Charl Swinburne
Is it so, that the sword is broken,
Our sword, that was halfway drawn?
Is it so, that the light was a spark,
That the bird we hailed as the lark
Sang in her sleep in the dark,
And the song we took for a token
Bore false witness of dawn?
Spread in the sight of the lion,
Surely, we said, is the net
......
What African Personality Should Stand For
by Declan C. Onuoha
A-Allow constructive plans for progress to prevail.
F-Follow the leaders with great vision for all.
R-Remember to accommodate others in activities.
I-Indicate specific steps to adopt for developments.
C-Coordinate and control the use of resources.
A-Admit it when you are wrong.
N-Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.
P-Persevere in preserving and propagating our cultures.
E-Emphasize overcoming obstacles and enduring glory.
R-Resolve to tolerate and reconcile people's criticisms.
......
I Confess to a Certain Winter Night
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
The ceremony does not begin until
We hear the silent splattering of the
Snowflakes upon the shuttered mildewed
Windows lined under the haggard trees—
And by then,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show must have
Ended as fast as it had begun —
Behind the faces of muted clocks that
Tick and drop frozen nuts on the carapaces of
Slow-protesting tortoises on broad-day-light
......
Mental Lilliputians
by Igor Vykhovanets
Mental Lilliputians
A tiny pity it inspires—
Not for this was life begun.
Yet still the fool, with mind on fire,
Serves evil, and gets nothing done.
-------------------------
......
Dirge of the Last Lap
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
I
The loud, cruel laughter of dirge
besieges us so greatly in the face of
wanton humiliation.
It comes mightily, crashing our aged
city walls, unearthing the foundations of
churches,
tolling bells in pulsated grief . . .
......
A Stranger's Prayer
by Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
Silly wisps of her raven hair flutter
In the winds of the long-short corridor of summer;
They snivel with the whims of cosseted sots,
Sinking in the futile harmony of winking beasts.
Pretty whiskers, soft with the ague of age, and lean
From frazzled grey.
A halo of white cotton crowns her fine dome, revealing little.
She paints the inky images of Al Hirschfeld —
Among whited, slit, black smuts needed for art’s emphases.
The greens of the season, lush and dreamy,
......
Heiligehuisjes
by Mario Odekerken
Langs de route verschijnen ze,
onopvallend en heilig tegelijk.
Bloemen in vazen,
kant op tafels,
beelden onder gewelfde doeken
alsof de hemel even afdaalt
tot op straatniveau.
Een stoel,een kruisbeeld,
het zachte kaarslicht
......
