NATTIE O'SHEGGZY

 

NATTIE O'SHEGGZY

 

Achromatism

 

When the curtains

Between colours

Are brought down

And the bar

Brought low

This furtive frown

On the brows of humanity

Will no more hunt Peace.

Let not the hue

Glued on a skin

Dictate your action

Nor the faction

Or the creed I lead

Tug the lids

Over your eyes

 

When polytical  banners

Under which we submit

Never wield a power

In the hearts of others

And thoughts of philosophy:

Capitalism, communism whatever

Blur into an understanding

We shall all laugh

At the folly

Of dichotomy

Pulling the wools

Over the eyes

Of love.

 

When you and I

Cut our veins

And find

Same blood

Coursing down

Or bludgeon

Our skulls

To see the same content

Or pinch our fleshes

With the points of facts

To know the hurt

We inflict

On our sensibilities

When love goes blind

And justice pale

To awaken understanding

When I see you

In my shoes

And you watch  me

Through the prism

Of humanity

We will hold hands

Through life

Like we are in love

From Adam

As little children

With no cares

In the whole world.

 

 

Fine Print: Time And Again

 

How many times have you had to break your sentences

And dip them deeply in the sour sauce of past tenses

As I see these contorted phrases down your bloated throat

Shadows on the wall fall where the darkest of clauses float?

Time and again, weigh the gram of grammar suit enough

To net the butterfly of ambiguity fluttering above rebuff.

 

How many times do I have to swallow your ironies' baits

Like a fish, I bob out of the murky waters off metaphor's slates?

Words are the whole confusing world of thoughts

Clothed in gabbled syllables you struggle to foist

On my imbecilic brain with the brute-force violence of your nuances.

When time and again your point of view belies redundances.

 

How many times do you have to dress meanings in camouflage

And daub your intentions in a fraction of seconds like a mirage

Why do I need to look in a microscope to dissect the germs crawling,

Clawing to the similes you employ to spur my comprehension's stalling?

If time and again locutions are the tragic doublespeak's pawns

Let Babel harvest the seeds of ambiguity before death yawns.

 

 

Gold Parting: Shooting You On

[for Wale]

 

The candle is flickering to its death;

You, you and I have had a go at our future.

You came pint-sized with elephant's head

To bring a smile where gloom paced

In a tango with hopelessness.

 

Just like the first day that zoomed forth

And I called to sound the alarm,

You broke the news matter-of-factly:

"I am quitting this drudgery."

Your voice quivering like the cactus

In the ocean of sand dunes.

With bated breath, I looked on

Hoping you would eat

Those blistering words as they fell off.

 

Fate thrust us on each other's paths

With a force that welded us together.

Family quests severed the umbilical cord;

In a fell swoop, the wax cried to the plinth

As I sit here wishing you stayed.

 

Go, go, go, who am I to delay thee?

To the land where future holds aloft

The dreams cast in golden allure,

Go forth to harvest thy filial sweat:

 

      To laughter,

    Those banters

     That pulled us

     Off our seats,

    That camaraderie,

   Those frank words

         In-camera,

    Those tiny ears

  That learnt to listen,

    Those fleeting feet

Ready to move

That large heart

    Bleeding to shelter all.

       Above all those,

            That YOU

     Who never tired me,

         God be with you.

 

When the sun plays hide and seek

Behind the clouds

The land is parched the seedling weak

Brown is the hue and withering

Is this flower that once bloomed

In the garden we once shared.

 

My brother weaned off

At the teats of another mother

My company nonetheless,

Fare thee well,

As I shoot you on with this song:

Destiny never goes wrong

To help sound this knell.

 

NATTIE O'SHEGGZY

 

NATTIE O'SHEGGZY is a consummate Nigerian poet who has been writing poetry and short stories for more than two decades. Nattie's works have appeared in online platforms, anthologies: CHRISTMAS IN OUR HEARTS (An Orphan's Christmas Carol), A BOWL OF PEACE (P E A C E), UNilVERSITY OF LIFE. Being a versatile weaver of words, his poems have featured in BRAVE VOICES POETRY JOURNAL, AFRICA WRITERS CARAVAN MEDIUM, UNIVERSUL CULTURII and SPILLWORDS. The poet has completed work on a "complete compilation" of his poems for publication