I
They don’t
appreciate treasure, dignity, legends
but celebrate pleasure, sensuous shadows,
slay slaves, caricatures.
II
They don’t
appreciate ingenuity, incorruptibility,
Productivity, decency,
but practice mediocrity, iniquity,
Deceptiveness.
III
They don’t
see nobility, credibility, integrity,
but present corruptions, Delirium,
decay, hoodlums.
IV
They don’t
perceive Beauty in dawn, sunrise,
meadows, rainbow, forests, sunset
but sow and deploy slums,
Coronavirus, gunshots, illness, abductions,
ransoms, killings.
V
They don’t
see reasons to be friendly, sensible,
reasonable, intuitive, considerate,
but seasons to be selfish, insane,
corruptible, insensitive, inhuman.
VI
They don’t
see Eagles, Peacocks, Roses, Lilies,
but grow as cabals, baboons, hyenas.
VII
They don’t
see Sunshine, Rainfall and Dews
on the grasses,
but depression, recession, distortion, gloom, doom.
Ben Ezeohagwu won the Onigraffiks Prize for literature (2017). He is Professor of Graphonomy...