Crispy Satire (Issue 2)

Kepler 452b by John Chidi

 

The world agreed on this point:

Africa lacked the will and technology

for space exploration.

 

When Nigeria announced a manned mission

To Kepler 452b in 2026,

It was hailed by all as a bold move.

Unofficially, snickers and guffaws greeted it.

 

June 6, 2026, it happened.

The shuttle was launched from Yasny Cosmodrome, Russia.

Sixteen hours later all communication with it was lost.

Four weeks after, the shuttle reentered earth’s orbit.

There was only one person on board. She was dead.

 

Three years later, a NASA probe party landed on Kepler 452b.

A colony of misshapen humanoids welcomed them.

The Americans tasted good.

Their women, they kept for breeding.

 

John Chidi is a pastor, author, poet, speaker, trainer and singer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write this Wrong

by Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom

 

…right this wrong

 

All day long, my wobbling legs travel

a path cleared by the very hands of

hardship, a co-traveler with gory tales

of conquest unmatched by warlords.

 

All day long, my head, like a horse

is saddled with a burden belonging

to poverty standing across the street

to applaud the effrontery of my efforts.

 

All day long, my dreams sit before a cold fire

passive, pensive, incapacitated by the chains

of injustice, hung onto the runny nose of

my future tugging at the trousers of ‘do something’.

 

All day long, my voice sneaks into impaired ears

of passers-by with patched pockets sewn by

poverty who survives and thrives on bogus funds

generously donated by corruption, a timeless ally.

 

All night short, my heart is raised in a body

lowered by suffering unfair to limitation

…but for survival, this hand must write

to right the wrongs of a righteous society…

 

Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom is the editor of PIN Quarterly Journal and Moderator of Eriata Annual Food Poetry Contest. He has authored two poetry collections entitled The Light Bearer and Punctured Silence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stenches by Eriata Oribhabor

 

pouring still on the ‘rusty caps’ of Ibadan

are poetic dusts from the Fist of Words

showered bold by gifted brains…

as lines of love and hope for all;

today’s revolution –

better tomorrow.

 

pouring still on the jaded streets of Ibadan

are lines of commitment and service

empowered to hold the aces

for fatherland…untie nutty reigns

of streets decorated by

wastes and shame.

 

pouring still are the dusts of Fists of Words

its rhymes and rhythms will haunt an ivory tower

finding feet to feed its lawns with free waters of love,

in search of formulas to fix her non-functional utilities…

if her booming stench from toilets doesn’t stop,

where is decency we mouth?

 

pouring hard on hearts are worries

of reflating waning ways of a land

burnished on billboards as magical wands

of change and transformation…lacking freshness

promised on pages of newspapers and television screens-

pecks without specs.

 

if this revolution runs from the bottom of our hearts

and pumped on the streets, authorities will be ruffled

forgotten parts of pain and shame will join to build

a wining whole…collective tills will build again;

greenery of old will come in brightened forms

killing stenches of pain and shame…feeding souls.

 

 

Eriata Oribhabor is the author of poetry collections in English and Naija Languej respectively.