We, The Poets, We Are Protesters And Other Poems Poem by Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA

(1) We, The Poets, We Are Protesters:
All day,
All night,
We, the poets, we protest.

We protest
All week,
All year,
We, the poets, we are protesters.

We, the poets,
We seek
Neither protest partners,
Nor protest sponsors.

We, the poets,
We have no empty pockets to fill,
We have no opponents to witch-hunt,
We crave not
For the potentates' positions
Or their mouthwatering morsels.

We, the poets, we protest
'Cause this domain is dirty
Made dirty
By descendants of the devil.

We, the poets,
We are protesters,
We are the mouthpieces
Of the Supreme Deity.

(2) Our Civilization Collapsed:
A new day
Without the sonorous
Songs of songbirds
And the bustle
Of busy humans and animals.

The sun struggled to rise,
Struggled to shine,
Weighed down
By the dark couds of July.

The clouds unleashed rain,
The rain drenched and drained
Our knapsack of knowledge.

The iron birds
Could no longer fly,
The medicine men,
The medicine women
No longer know
The cure for our illnesses,
Our civilization collapsed.

The rain
Rained in torrents
And drenched our earth
Devoid now
Of our knapsack of knowledge.

(3) Nelson Mandela:
Madiba's humility haunts
Haughty hooligans
Huddled inside hideous
Houses of mal-governance.

As Madiba celebrate
Decades of struggles,
Strident grateful voices
Singing songs of salute,
Rendered in sonorous voices
Reverbrated
And resurrected souls
Of subdued citizens.

As Madiba stood
To celebrate and unveil
Statues of struggles,
Erected in city centres
And in the minds
Of grateful humanity,
Nelson Mandela stood,
Grey haired Madiba stood,
wiped out by age and struggles.

(4) Fela:
Sounds of saxophone,
Drumbeats,
Stage walks,
The baritone.

Tongue lashing looters
Of the people's wealth.
Strange incense,
Smokes spiraled.

The shrine
Filled with worshippers,
The priest
Presided with afro beats.

Fela
Fanned the flame of truth
To free the people
From the pangs of timidity.

Persecutions.

New brass hats
Bursted onto the scene
And burrowed
Into the people's wealth.

Fela sang,
They struck,
Persecutions persisted.

Body infirmities,
Surrender,
Farewell,
Afro beats reverberate.