MOTHER TONGUE

“Give these words life,” cried Akumedei the old sage.
His three grand children turned to look at him,
Found mother-tongue inscrutable and paused.
The old sage adjusted his wrapper, stood up
From the colonial rocking chair bemused.
Turning to his son he rained

FOR LIONEL MESSI

...But I couldn’t bar the pressing magic.
Limb, pressing limb
In no overstretch of your skip
I witnessed your football boots hover
The ball. Springing on
Done like scissors diametrics.

THE NEW FACE OF FUEL SUBSIDY

Face --
Definition:
Outward appearance;
Bridled intro to the seat of thinking.

The wheel is spinning
The steering is turning
Without a driver

WAKING TO GRAVITY

How can I assuage moments
in photographs, knowing
in my old brain
I hear a rickety train
draw up to a region in air. . .

A Portrait: The Successful, Happy and Fulfilled me

[The Award-winning Essay by Onis Sampson in the annual McPherson University Essay Writing Competition . Mr. Sampson came first in the essay competition. Prizes were awarded on the 18th of August, 2013. Prize Money: $100. McPherson University is owned by Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria.] 

A few years back while a teenager, I was perusing the pages of “The Western Experience,”¹ and came across an artwork. It was the portrait of “Louis Bertin,”² a nineteenth century European statesman painted by Dominique Ingres. Flipping two pages forward I saw another artwork, titled “Self Portrait,”³ a painting by Camille Corot in which he painted himself with the aid of a mirror before him.