ONCE UPON A KISS I

in the dim and distant past four fledgling lips

at a tryst assuaging their thirst

searing sentimental secrets felt only

through dark tunnels of their throats

in the dim and distant past through

darksome tunnel of the throat we

shared unspoken secrets

you and i

four fledgling lips

i couldn’t go further

that’s why you called me names

forgetting

trust made in lust will rust in dust

once upon your kiss

and you set my flesh on fire

does love behave indecently?

ONCE UPON A KISS II

once upon a time there was your shadow

reflecting on the window

in the candle-lit room

with your neck-crushing embrace enveloping me

for moments i stood motionless

and began to dance to your love-wantintin tune

that sounds deeper and bitter

now in my soul

if promises were deeds you’d be dean of lovers

you and i know better

what has happened to my door?

what has happened to my yard?

what has happened to those innocent flowers

you touched and trampled?

once upon a time i was in your bosom

with iridescent blue eyes envisioning love

in your lust i was lost.

TEARS

time hurts when we wait 
expecting you’ll be here with the 
wind’s whisper 

tears teardrops tears drop and never stop

as the heat of longing harasses our 
psyche of persecuted passion

fractures of fragile feeling in faded 
face of forlorn future 
shrunken silence of unsung tragedies 
 

time heals when it’s past

eternal future suddenly made present 
just the marks of time left as reminders 
in empty space of filled minds 
tears teardrops tears drop and never stop 

hurting healer when shall these tears 
be in your skin-bottle?

TONGUE OF CURRENCY

in the resplendence of his opulence

he bursts into a rapture of tongues

similitude of esoteric cant

rupee ruble riyal rupiah renminbi

torrent of currencies cascading from the tip

of the money-twisted tongue and again

the tongue turns in foreign torrent of tongues of currencies

peso peseta dinar drachma lira franc deutschmark

yen dollar pound-sterling cedi

he pauses as his greedy ogling eyes venture into space

relating vision of more currencies

won krone guilder shekel

a rapture of spittle he tries to stifle

a man who had all in palatial places

but speaking in state asylum

as he chirps aha aha he ends his pecuniary cant

in naira and kobo.

‘CHRISTMAS GIFT’

after eighteen moons in nuptial chamber  
 
God wrung this Oluwaseyi  
 
a bouncing baby boy bundle of bliss  
 
mama seyi thanked the Giver

harmattan degree fahrenheit  
 read the temperature in december  
 
and seyi was down with hundred and one  
 
so soon life was done in him  
 
the terminator was implacable like the  
 sun that must go down...

women willingly wailed and men also cried  
 
why me God? the mother asked

inconsolable woman  
 every good gift and perfect present  
 
comes from above  
 
may the Giver console you before next harmattan.