OUR SKIN IS AS HOT AS AN OVEN(a poem by Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher)

Remember what has come upon us;
Look, and behold our reproach!
Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
We've become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like widows.

We pay for the water we drink,
And our foods comes at a price.
They chase at our heels;
We labour and have no rest.
We have given our hands to the enemies,
And the wicked, to be satisfied.

Our forefathers sinned and are gone,
But we bear their iniquities; we are killed by gun.
Servants rule over us,
There's none to deliver us from their hands.
We get our daily bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword we see, we failed to strive.

Our skin is as hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
They ravished the women in our land,
They raped the girls in our yards.
Our sons were hung up by their neck,
And elders were disrespected.

Young men struggled to survive,
Boys staggered under loads of woods.
The joy of our heart has ceased,
Our morning has turned into mourning.
The crown has fallen from our head,
Our skin is as hot as an oven.

©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com

Sunsampaul is a poet, student, and spoken word artiste, he loves writing prose and drama too. You can contact him via 08180861170. He resides in 42 Anthony Agboje Street , Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos.

AGONY OF A WIDOW by Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher

It was no dazzling evening. The wind was combating with roofs. It was pouring down. Before Jessica's husband kissed the dust, they were working class parents, hustling hard to pay the rent. Jessica had invested a lot, hoping to see the stars like her wealthy elder sisters. But now, as a widow who had just lost her husband, she was weary, and her melancholic eyes were drowned in tears. Her truncated imagination failed to trace the agony that had spilt them like dust.

      It had turned her soft, swollen eyes into oceans of sorrows. Her home had become a graveyard to mourn her husband. As scattering of stars all over the nation were watching the racing night, her closed-opened eyes harboured the painful demise of her husband.

      Barely a week after the burial, her husband's family clustered in her home with rage, claiming she had killed their brother. They fired catapults of insults at her. They threw her bombs of wickedness. A family that used to be nice to her had suddenly become thorns in her flesh.

       Later on, they invaded her home with her husband's lawyer who read his will aloud. They were perplexed when they discovered he bequeathed his house and wealth to his wife and daughters. Their sweat became blood, and they prepared to cook a pot of wickedness to make sure they could inherit the wealth.

       In the subsequent month, one of Jessica's daughters died. She guessed her in laws were behind the supposed mysterious ailment that befall her little daughter but had no evidence to prove their guilt. They kept making life miserable for her. They lambasted her because she refused to kowtow to them.

      She went through excruciating pains, she was inflicted with several ailments that made her unable to walk. She was abandoned, thereafter the ailments got worst and her body started smelling. She cried day and night for vengeance until she was introduced to a pastor who prayed for her and she was healed after fasting for two weeks with fervent prayer.

      Two days later nemesis caught up with her wicked in laws, they all fell sick and their entire family members suffered excruciating pains as well until they passed on slowly one after the other after confessing their evil deeds to her. What they sowed, they reaped. No man sow plantain and reap banana. Being good is a good lifestyle, it is evil to be wicked; because life is a big circle. Jessica and her only surviving daughter lived happily ever after.

LAGOS IS MY SUCCESS STORY(a poem by Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher)

When I was four, mama said to me "son, just like a strong horse, one day you'll gallop into Lagos, an electrifying city. A world-class destination, Nigeria’s most amazing city that has wonderful beaches, skyscrapers,
amazing parks, best entertainment, most job opportunities and so much more.

When I first found myself in Lagos, I discovered it's city that never sleeps, you could buy from
the street shops at any time, be it early morning when the cocks are still clearing their tracheae or late night when those flammulatesd owls still hunt for prey. Aboki with small kiosk selling a variety of household items just to excoriate the rumblings of worm in an hungry man's gut.

A land of hospitality, where hospitals are the main priority, saving lives is everyone's dignity, no family want their teenage daughters to loose their virginity, brothers wishing their sister still have purity. Where different tribes live in unity, no wonder it's a land of simplicity.

A land of opportunity, where souls clustered to make ends meet, where graduates, traders, hustlers, business men and women perched like birds of the air, just to make a living. A land where there's no food for lazy men, where rats also hustle to quench their hunger and royals still rumble so they won't fumble or stumble on a dabbled marble.

A land of creativity, where humans are creative, yet they don't create thieves, where talent is born and breed. A land of working class parents, hustling and working to pay rent, a land where traffic jam punch human mind, a land of true federalism where education is taken more seriously than ejaculation. A land of hope, faith, love, wisdom, counsel, understanding, kindness and unity. For this land is my success story. ©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com
+2348180861170
#Spokenword
#Poetry
#Lagos
#Success
#Story
#Philosopher
#Writes

I'M EVERYWHERE (a poem by Sunsampaul Egwu)

Don't look for me in only a place of worship,
I'm everywhere, anywhere you call on me, I'll be.
I'm in your small dark room that lacks proper ventilation,
Even though it is not like a palace;
Just call on me.

I'm in the market place where noises are cooked and served to passerby,
No matter the sun and rain,
Flood and swamp in the market;
Just call on me.

I'm in the coven of your enemies that plot to kill you,
When they mention your name,
And invoke your image in a mirror,
My image will definitely appear to defend you.

I'm in the brothel, anytime you are there to win souls for me,
When temptation comes,
When seduction occurs,
I'll stand by you to keep your faith strong.

I'm in your kitchen and other room,
Inasmuch you call on me,
Made your knees kissed the ground just for me,
Stretched your hand in prayer,
You'll notice my presence.

©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com
+2348180861170

DON'T ASK WHY(a poem by Sunsampaul Egwu)

Don't ask why the echoes from children of the streets still crack walls, break bridges, open ground, divide the cloud; yet couldn't rain down blessings.

Don't ask why the drop down tears from the eyes of our sick mothers caused heart attack for our poor fathers, deprived us our sleep, punctured our hope; yet couldn't   make the sun smile at us.

Don't ask why our graduates comb the streets in search of job, after spending more than four years in tertiary institution, yet couldn't set their eyes on a single placard of job opportunity.

Don't ask why our children in public schools don't have seats to sit, but still plant their buttocks on the floor, just to gain knowledge; yet find no devoted teacher to impart knowledge.

Don't ask why our economy is downtrodden, leaders backsliding, hospitals fallen, churches bombed, daughters kidnapped; yet no kerosene in the lamp to make us see the light of a better tomorrow.

Please don't ask why, don't make your worries become punchlines to punch minds, just go down on your knees and pray for these intentions, don't pretend they were not mentioned, lest your hope be placed under detention, just put your trust in God not in man

Strive to make sure there's no religious diversity, don't cast stone on the leaders but pray for a godly change of selfless interest, not a political change of selfish interest.

Put on a smiling face, let your physiognomy be radiant, don't make the excruciating pains put your back on the ground. Don't stoop so low just to go so low, but rise on your feet and make the sun smile at you.
Please don't ask why.

©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com
+2348180861170

POETRY IS LIFE(a poem by Sunsampaul Egwu)

Poetry is the heart of art
The ladder that take a person of exceptional talent to the top
The light that brightens the life of human
The echoes of children of the street

Poetry is the prophecy of a prophet
Poetry is not only what I do
Poetry is who also I am
I write poetry, speak poetry,preach poetry
I am poetry

Poetry is the Mouth piece that speak peace more than a chief priest
Poetry is the hope of the wussies
Poetry is the future of the boys and girls who went and never returned
Poetry is the calabash that can never be broken
Because Poetry is life

©Sunsampaul Egwu Philosopher
Sunsampaul4globe@gmail.com
+2348180861170

POETRY IS THE HEART OF ART, SAYS SIR ERIATA DURING HIS INTERVIEW WITH CITADEL OF LIFE MEDIA

Question:

Sir how do your find a mentor as a poet ?  Someone to train you






Reply:

I started writing poetry in pidgin English. I was my mentor until I started writing poetry in English language. It was then I shared my works with the current President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Denja Abdullahi. He should be appreciated for being the very first person who showed seriousness in my works and guided me accordingly on the way forward.





Question:

Generally, both the English Poetry and the Naija Language puem dem, when did you started writing poetry.




Reply:

 I started writing poetry in my secondary school day.

However, poetry writing consciously for me started in Abuja, Nigeria sometime in 2006



Question:

At times, people write poems and we think it doesn't look like one, WHAT IS THE RUDIMENT OF POETRY, SIR? What makes a work a good poem?




Reply:

 Every beginner poetry writer doesn't see his or her poem as a poem until encouraged to do so. Meanwhile, the rudiments of poetry writing rests on the consciousness and ability of the poet to deploy poetic features or devices as some would want to address it.




Question:

Wow! Thanks for that concise answer Sir.

_To finally drive the point home, Sir, what is/are the chief POETIC DEVICE OR FEATURES one can employ in one's work to make it meet up with the qualitative works?_




Reply:

Talking on poetic features and those to use, I will simply say they come handy depending on situations. Meanwhile, all are ok. None should be deliberately recommended.

Question:

How well can a page poet win a poetry slam? What are the important steps to take Sir




Reply:

 Every slam/poetry challenge has its rules or guidelines. Poetry reading isn't poetry performance. A page poet as you want to call it, has the chance if the rules are so spelt out in such a way that the page poet would be considered differently. Meanwhile, I page poet could win if he performs his poem like a performance poet. A slam is a poetry challenge demonstrated on stage.



Question:

What are the necessary imageries and figure of speech to be used in a poetically written prose



Reply:

 None recommends poetic features or devices. As earlier mentioned, they are deployed as at when necessary. Poetically written prose is a prose work written brevity; conscious of embellishing it with poetic features. In this case, reading the work would tell any reader that, it was not just a prose work, it was one carefully written to prove a solid point for creativity. Don't forget that, poetry is the heart of art.


It's not a compulsion to have a Pen name. Personally, I dislike it. I want my name to be me, and me till eternity.


Eradicating plagiarism is likened to eradicating corruption. Not possible. We can only check against it or work towards reducing it. How do we do this? The writer should always sign off his or her work. And keep good records of drafts in such a way that, they could be easily retrieved in evidence.


Which platform do you desire that you are not getting? This is a wild remark. Look out for platforms. They are all over and non debars you from making the best use of them.