Children of the Netherworld - Poems by Denrele Ogunwa
- By Denrele Ogunwa
- Published May 23, 2005
- Poems
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Denrele Ogunwa
Denrele Ogunwa is a journalist and poet currently residing in England. Her poetry, articles and columns have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and England. An aesthete and lover of jazz music, Denrele's muses are passion, darkness and light, not necessarily in that order. Her poems re-echo the theme of escape from night into dawn, a consistent search for doorways that lead out and away from the present into some other place full of promises and new beginnings. She is featured in the German translation of Nigerian poetry selected by Uche Nduka, Junge Nigerianische Lyrik. She has a degree in Political Science.
View all Entries by Denrele OgunwaChildren of the Netherworld
From a dark netherworld
where a black sun rises
where the moon is forever eclipsed
from an airless void
where a dingy, cloying breeze
enshrouds rather than blows by
and cold still air
touches one's spine
with chilly fingers
through unlit corridors
winding into infinity
filled with the rank odour
of decaying souls
the putrescence
of sanity long dead
Children are born
sages in pink tender skin
babies older than life
wailing darksongs
screaming for their first taste of blood
A latent violent force
waiting patiently
like a lion stalking prey
waiting for a little more strength
a little more mobility and
a gun.
Time Bomb
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock..
Tick...
Every five minutes or so
I glance at the clock
Tock...
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock...
Every five minutes or so
hell waits to receive another soul
Tick...
Upheavals
I'll stir up the waters
of my soul
I'll dip my hand
into the bubbling waves
and stir
then I'll pull out the plug
and watch it drain away
Away to darker, deeper depths
where nothing matters
except - perhaps -
discovering light
or further darkness
In the eye of the whirlpool
what would I find but
flotsam, jetsam
and other rubbish like myself
pulled down together
by gravity's force
rubbish in a rainswept gutter
following the flow
of a water demon
down to murky, watery darkness
I am not lost
I belong here.
Passiontide
Here I stand
misty eyed
amidst swirling water-cloud
I ache where I was fed
I ache more
where I was wounded
My head swirls
with the water-cloud
I ache...