20-10-20



20-10-20

The darkness of night encourages hearts
in this world of men to be desperately
in need to create and unleash mayhem
on the weak in strength and meek in
spirit sleeping under the roof of
moral security with closed eyes.

As the night disarmed the day
rendered it powerless, marched
it to silence, to awaken the dead
to conjure up its presence to
rule with evil forces...
and territorial dominance

At the stage of the game
everything is set for the:

Warmongering machine-men
ready to address in
speech through the
barrel of a gun

I see these men in uniform
dressed up with terror of
war to engage righteous
assembly of men at their
holy sanctuary chanting
victory hymn, armed only
with national glory.

"Comrades. They are here..."
a tweet alert that shrunk
my balls in fear for the lives
about to be swallowed up
by blood-hungry beasts

With disregard for humanity
that projects faithless love
for the consecrated land
they opened up the shower
of sporadic horror to rain
upon young people who couldn't
shield themselves...

Roses of the white night
massacre flowered upon the kill
as the rest of the world
watched on at dinner sipping
on black coffee brewed
with cream and artificial
sweetener.

Gone! —
Disappeared into the
wild-cries of the unholy night.
These men of chaos
left Sorrow Tears Blood
behind the horrible scene
that political rhetoric
assumed "no fatalities."

The black tuesday images
bleached with the intense
heat of the hour to fit
the narrative of the white
lie told by silence.

But we will never forget to
voice a blow so deliberate,
so malicious that's not
against one people, or
the street-stompers
but all of us

About this poem

This poem was inspired by the unjust shootings at the "End SARS" defenseless protesters at the Lekki Toll gate (where they unabatedly stood their holy ground, and was eventually invaded by unknown men in military clothing) on October 2020; a black Tuesday, that will be forever embedded in the heart of Nigerian history.

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Written on October 22, 2020

Submitted by jammedwithin on November 11, 2023

1:36 min read
2

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXCDX XXXEXF XG XCGX XDHXIBB XXXXX BDXJXXX KXXIXXJ XGKXXXXX XXXKF EXXXAH
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,666
Words 320
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 2, 4, 7, 5, 7, 7, 8, 5, 6

Uchechukwu Onyedikam

Uchechukwu Onyedikam is a Nigerian mad creative artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Amsterdam Quarterly, Brittle Paper, Poetic Africa, Hood Communists, The Hooghly Review, and in print anthologies. Christina Chin and he have co-published Pouring Light on the Hills (2022), and forthcoming release — CLOUDS OF PINK from LJMcD Communications, 2024. more…

All Uchechukwu Onyedikam poems | Uchechukwu Onyedikam Books

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