Still More? (For Onoriode Erimoje)

Yesterday,
That was all of it
Now all it was
I lift up my candle
In tribute to you
For an unwritten promise
Is what we have.

Today, here and now
I cradle the baby in you
And smile
At the grown man you’ve become
And the tenderness
That still is in you

Once and for all time
Turn to Him
For i knew without seeing
When you signed with Him
That contract
And He promised never to leave you
If only there you would stay.

Today, now and here
This is all there is-
Wonder at the smile we still enjoy
A release of burdens
The lightness of hearts
When only I wonder
Could there still be more…?

Death by Lasagne

Frail strength

Its is said that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder
So goes the consolation for the one who must live with his ill fate
Its no one’s fault dat he made the wrong choice
Options abound even in the frozen covens of the morgue
Yet he made his unfortunate turn,
what were you thinking? Every one asks.

When I look at you, I envy the one who gets your head
He is one heck of a lucky guy
Its just sheer luck, not many can deserve this abundance of grace.
Gonna miss the daily anticipation to see this face
Gonna miss more importantly the boldness to walk away.
Contributed

Sour Grapes in the Mixer

We had always been friends, I mean that we’ve been friends for so long that I cannot think of a time when I was not friends with her. What unraveled our friendship like an old sweater is quite funny. Motunde traveled for a religious program even though she was not the kind of person that usually honoured such invitations. She had taken time to do all the things that men found irresistible; new hair-do, new clothes, fresh makeup and she had even had a spa treatment! She pulled out all the stops on this one. The pictures I saw told me she even fixed her nails even though she didn’t usually do that(she enjoyed chewing her fingernails into stubs).
She finished her programme early on one of those days and since my fiancée of six years lived in that city, she called me and begged me to tell him not only that she was around but take her out. I thought it was a perfectly reasonable request since they had become friends through me and she would not want to try anything silly. That did not send alarm bells ringing in my head. What tripped my alarm system was the intensity with which she asked and I could hear she was almost beside herself that I finally gave in.
I had told her of our slight disagreement but she was intent on going out with him that I acquiesced and made her happy. I was told(and even from the pictures I later saw) that he took her to a posh restaurant(where the food cost a ton!!) And treated her to a nice dinner. I guessed she wanted that treatment everyday till she left the city but did not know how to approach the subject and so she sent me a text days after she returned home about not wanting to be friends with me again and all! She said she was disappointed in me! For what, I didn’t know! I thought about carefully constructing a reply to her message and I cancelled the idea deciding to take the mature way. I calmly re-read her text message repeatedly before I shut down my device and slept on it.
The next day, my bosom friend ignored me when she saw me and even though I was hurt, I smiled. I decided to let the matter slide but two days later she called me and perhaps she was upset that I did not reply her message that she decided to say her mind. Absent mindedly I picked the call while cooking in that evening. Frankly, I can’t remember anything she said except that I concluded the call with ‘have a beer on me!’ I’m still laughing at her look of surprise while I grab a chilled bottle of Heineken…

One Legged Babe

Nkechi was late yet again! She felt bad about it because she had started getting set an hour before she was due to leave home. Yet she had gotten caught in day-dreaming and she had lost track of time. Finally, she hurried and made it out of the house with just minutes to spare. She sighed when she did not see and keke to take her to the bus stop and she started to walk carefully down her muddy street. She balanced carefully on 3 ½ inch block heels and was dressed in a splash of colours-orange blazer, purple camisole, light blue skirt, grey bag and sandals which were a mixture of white, black and fuchsia pink.
She squinted her eyes because she had forgotten her sunshades in her hurry. With the sun out, she was sweating and she used her handkerchief to dab at the beads of sweat forming on her upper lip. Sweat trickled down between her breasts and down her armpits to the band of her skirt. As she stood waiting at the bus stop a heavyset woman passed limping under her own weight. She was panting and her tongue was stuck between her lips and she wore a Lycra dress that clung to her like a second skin. It was animal print (aww…poor choice) and because of her size and shape, the back appeared shorter than the front. As she walked past Nkechi, Nkechi turned following her with her eyes amazed that the woman should wear something like that. Her buttocks were shaking like pap that had been cooled and left in the pot to separate and as she followed the movement in shock with her eyes, her left heel snapped from the inside just as one keke stopped right in front of her.
She was laughing so hard as she boarded the keke. Even when she alighted, she had tears streaming down her face as the first attendant welcomed her giving her a quizzical look when she walked to him limping. She could not help bursting into fresh gales of laughter as her mind replayed the Lycra-animal print-dressed stranger.