CRISPY SATIRE

 

Marvel Chukwudi Pephel is a poet whose literary works have appeared on several literary platforms online.

 

 

 

 

DEMOCRACY By Marvel Chukwudi Pephel

Democracy.
What does it mean, again;
Government of the people,
For the people, and
By the people?
Well, I do not know about you;
But sometimes it seems to me
To read Them-O-Crazy.

 

 

Ajise Vincent is a Nigerian Poet whose works had featured in several anthologies and literary journals. He is currently finishing up a major in Economics at the University.

 

 

 

REVERSE DARWINISM By Ajise Vincent

The elder of my land is a narcissist.

Like an elephant stamping on grass

he eulogizes his candour

by trampling on the dreams of clansmen.

 

Yesterday,

he was beaten and stripped bare

by his associates of subtle desires

Lo! We saw him with the vagina of a woman.

 

DEMOCRACY II By Ajise Vincent

I

Cheerfully, the wind laughs,

the spiky bough chuckles,

mocking our granny past

cowering towards an obscure hope.

II

For four and half dozen years

our dreams were drunk in glee

at the bar of corruption by nerdy enigmas.

Lo! Our fathers battered our dreams for freedom.

III

They crippled the aspirations of our future

with trillions stocked in “Ghana must go” bags

then provided walking sticks

to aid the trod of our injured tomorrow.

IV

How long would we be stiff in opinion?

While few famished clowns

slaughter our light of grace

to feed their ravenous greed.

V

How long would the gods who wedge power

eat the sacrifices of their worshippers?

and by their Czarist behest

compel same worshippers to eat their faeces.

VI

Lo! The chisel of change is here

To etch the shapeless now

So we can perhaps before departure

feel the dividend of democracy.

 

FLASHBACKS By Ajise Vincent

I’ve sprinkled holy water

on the recesses of my soul.

Drank gallons of anointing oil to flush out devils

defying the doctrines of the spirit.

 

I’ve gone on marathons of fast

To retrace my truncated present.

Yet those flashbacks of her wrestling behind

are still engraved on the template of my mind.

God have mercy!

 

 

Okeme Jerome Akpevwe is from Okpe Kingdom, born February 18 in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. He is currently studying Geology in Delta State University, Abraka. He developed interest in Poetry in the year 2011. He also loves prose writing, computing, exploring and travelling. He’s a success in progress.

 

 

HOW WAS YOUR FIRST DAY IN OFFICE?
(To whom it may concern) By James Jerome Okeme

How was your first day in office?
Were you welcomed with hugs or handshakes?
If those handshakes were beyond your elbow
Watch out for those shakers
Whose feelings were masked with smiles.

Did it take you time to find the right keys?
If those keys didn’t move freely in their slots
Maybe they were rusted due to hard times.
Who knows if their spares exist?
Maybe the locks need to be changed
Lest your cabinet suffer infiltration.

Hope you took time to raise the carpet?
I’m undoubtedly sure you found them in their numbers.
Enough to feed the Nation.
Maybe they were swept there intentionally
Or done by those so called lackadaisical cleaners.

I knew you brought in your own seat
Prevention they say is better than cure.
The former seat must have been worn out
That we know.
Maybe burnt beyond recognition.
Remember it was called “a hot seat”.

I guess you observed there were missing files
It’s not that they were blown away by those stiff fans
‘Cos available cobwebs were very thick
Strong enough to commit suicide.
I heard they prevent the fans from rotating.

I knew you didn’t perspire
I learnt the AC runs 24/7
Powered by an electrical plant that  works like NEPA
Many outside would keep shouting “UP NEPA”
Like a healed leper.

I knew you had a long day
Reading those many unread letters.
I pray you find a pen to reply them all.
Please, find time to rest.
Tomorrow is another day.

 

 

Tola Ijalusi is a writer who is passionate about using poetry as a means of addressing certain issues in the society. He writes from Ibadan, Nigeria where he currently resides.

 

 

 

DRY CLEANERS By Ijalusi Oluwato Samuel

Fixing the laundry 
A nightmare before dawn 
Not until delta boom.
Farms left for newer fortune 
Fortune costing fortune.

Laundry, done for residues 
Of unspent change in
Treasury and Revenue books. 
Laundry done, not to 
Wash societal decadence, 
Bleach stains of pains of 
Economic injury, insurgency or poverty 
But for heavy droplets of stacks.

Mysterious balls of biased sentiment kicked 
Charging gullible audience noising G-O-A-L
Without goal post of national developments. 
Ignorant innocent citizens soaked 
In the laundry solution of flattery 
To exhort resources,
Create sanitation exercises 
To rake pockets of deprived clients 
Vowed to wash clean 
In their crusade prophecies.

They indulge in foul plays 
Sit on pained necks 
Winning hypocritical race 
To do our laundry 
Commits cardinal sins 
Yet, escape scot free 
With convincing innocuous visages. 
DEMOCRATIC DIPLOMATS OF SHAME!