I haven't been dog tired
For some time
I usually pace myself
To preserve my health
Today I changed routine
Now I’m sleepy and winded

I missed my eye appointment Wednesday
So I rescheduled for Friday
Since I keep my mornings lazy
My appointments are later in the day
But, it wasn't so today
Because I had to make some changes

Blessed be thy name
Akwa Abasi Ibom
Oil flows in crude and palms
We drank to augment the joy
Of a new south-south state
Our ancestors were noted
For farming and fishing
Women wore waists beads
And fed their children
With breast milk
And remains of past sacrifices
The children knew well
How to keep the vultures away
From eating the meat at the altar
Till the sacrifice was accepted
By Itina Iman

I don't mean to hurt anyone here,
Sir.

All my life I have composed
Through the darkness of the eerie nights,
When the mind is free
Without any inhibitions

And

When I read some ones poetry
I get my own vision

And

Compose that's all.
If you don’t like me
At least I thank thee,
For seeing the ray,
Nay,
streak of brilliance
That you do say,
Comes once amongst a billion rays

Many dawns have lapsed,
My lonely pathway
That’s about all what I can say

Swahili,
I never learned Swahili
in the American marketplace
bankers, Realtors and lawyers,
pundits, corporations and dissidents
oh my,

who would I be now without
Siddhartha egging me on
into my heart of darkness?

thieves rescued me and hunters
wounded me, the prey elusive
in their infrared sight, I loved them
all, but not later

I was a Nomad foraging through
deep roots, hacking off words
that seemed superfluous, I stood
on the edge,
a woman of strawberries.