Afrika-Writes Poetry Workshop
The Afrika-Writes Poetry Workshop shall be a four-day poetry writing workshop is set to begin on October 4th to end with a public event on 08 October 2019 at Steam Lounge, Old GRA, Makurdi. The workshop is planned in such a way that: -Two days…
How we Spell Home, A Poem By E. Ogwiji
‘How we Spell Home’ is a gripping poem about the chaos and unrest in the poet’s home country. What else should a poet do when all the synonyms of ‘home’ she knows are words that unsettle her? Trapped in this poem, are many stories of…
The Editor’s ‘No’ or Nod
Last night, the editor looked through a pile of poems, where mine hid, with a smear of mama’s anointing oil, wrapped in the first prayer I mumbled after my last rejection. (Is there even a thing as last rejection? Is rejection not a long endless…
A POET’S SOLILOQUY
“When tears are in your eyes, It’s time to look inside, Your heart will find another way” –Enya Are poems not the pallbearers of a poet’s dead dreams & hopes? I am awed by the way they donate their shoulders to bear the pain Of…
THIS IS HOW I MADE MY WINGS
With sunken eyes in tired sockets, a girl ran after her father’s sigh; seized it, slit its throat, hid the blood-stained knife in a lawn of solitude & became the dream her father had on the night of her conception. She remembers her mother’s words,…
ANXIETY AND THINGS THAT SHATTER: EXUDATES OF A TROUBLED MIND
(Anxiety and Things that Shatter, 112 pages, Samuel Adeyemi , 2019, Smashwords Edition) I had barely read halfway through the first part of this three-sectioned anthology before I messaged Samuel, “How did you put these poems out without feeling naked?” The poems in this collection…
Aunty Maria: A Short Story By Ehi-kowochio Ogwiji
In “Aunty Maria”, Ehi-kowochio Ogwiji shares a story that is real and heavy with sadness. There is a poetic undertone of metaphors and imageries cuddling away in the crisp paragraphs of this story. Although the story is cold with grief, it closes with a warmth…
AN ECHO OF SILENCE
Because we do not preserve memories from decay By immersing them in vessels filled with formalin, I tried to remember you today- your smell, your kiss The beats and lyrics of the songs you said your heart Sang for me, but I can’t remember any….
5 TED Talk Videos Every Writer Should Watch
I have been watching lots of TED Talk videos recently. Most times, after a speaker’s voice, drowns in a round of applause, my mind regurgitates the words and re-chews in rumination. As I often say, lessons are like kola-nuts, when we find people who do…
THE NEW DEATH MANUAL
Pain is like alcohol. I do not know how many shots gets you tipsy, But the first time life served me shots of pain, I staggered home, entered into a poem & passed out. At dawn, mother dispelled the hangover with these words: “Daughter, pain…
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