IKECHUKWU IWUAGWU
Draw closer, curious ears Draw closer, curious minds
Cast a gaze upon the breed of poli-thiefs borne by Mama Africa’s sutures
An arid literary piece, awaiting the drizzle of criticism
Prepped for a four-year march, like navy seals invading a rebel held area
Billboards to the left. Billboards to the right. Billboards everywhere. Greeting everyone.
Oil paintings — hands in the air like bandits rounded up by the police,
Relating to eager eyes, their roles to the masses
Her once voluptous breasts slowly becoming arid
Oh! Flora Shaw, your daughter’s oozing wealth is becoming a folktale
Curious ears, draw closer Curious minds, draw closer
Their mouths reeks with sweetness, sweeter than honey from a pregnant hive
They grease bony palms with crisp penny tenders, soliciting for hypnotised yeses – with whips of cam-pain
They erect invisible castles in the air with bricks of fake promises
masses dance uncontrollably to their lyrics robed in apparition.
Once drunk in the liqueur of inauguration, these invisible castles collapse with a jab of visible foolishness
They come like thieves in the night, kill your thoughts, steal your choice
and destroy your future wolves of sheepish attire
Mind not their smiley faces painted with cynical laughters like clowns,
Deep inside, their souls — if there be any, is primed like a bomb, ticking with ulterior motives,
waiting to Hiroshima defenseless masses
Draw closer, curious ears Draw closer, curious minds
Don’t let their saintly selves romance you with deceit
They pretend much more than pretence itself – Oscar awardees
They castrate democrazy wearing jigsaw smiles – psychos in power; Drunk from jars of immunity
Clad in the confidence of one who left taps of growth to flow in thirsty constituencies
Gallivanting with bellies like the hot air balloon in the womb of the skies
As their tenures dawn, luring the whips of accountability
We bear witness to an emergence of thespian sprouts
But karma’s menu has no culinary obligation to dyonisus
Draw closer, curious minds Draw closer, curious ears
A myriad of questions itch for answers A myriad of questions awaits us
We are the leaders of tomorrow
Where is tomorrow ?
She must have gone into exile
Scared of posterity’s gavel?
Careless
The jury awaits…
Bought and lured on by
executhieves, legislooters and judisharers-
nights of marathon orgys
Fertility breathes no more between these fallopians
We see barren morrows
Futures submerged like torpedoed submarines.
IWUAGWU IKECHUKWU
is an African poet and graduate of English and Literary studies. His poems won the Poetry Nook weekly contest and got an honourable mention, now in the fifth volume paperback edition of the Poetry Nook anthology available on Amazon. His short story was awarded an honourable mention in the IHRAF Creators of Justice award in New York, 2020 edition, His works have been published in Black Boy Review (Nigeria), About Place Journal (USA), Flora Fiction (USA), Dissonance Magazine (UK) and Orange Blush Zine (Malaysia). A lover of the Igbo culture, amongst his hobbies are researching, writing, studying, reading African literature as well as engaging in creative and thought-provoking arguments.
