Impacting Positively

Fishes Everyday and everywhere we see them Clad in rags, they walk firm Looking like those of the stone ages Prancing about, looking like savages. Unscaled Fishes Carrying about dirt and trash Appearing like a sick dog in weather too harsh Carrying about name tags Undignified, yet they brag Of how good they appear Putting on display their wares. Unscaled Fishes Even the fishermen dislike them But they catch them At least they quench hunger But are remembered not a day longer.

Sandra handed Phillip the cash and said "That's all I have". Grudgingly, he took it from her ,counted it and suddenly,frowned."This is just a hundred and fifty" he said. Sandra made for his hands, she wanted to hold them and tell him how difficult it had been for her to raise the sum but he stormed out of the house, banging the door after him.      This was the sixth time in four months Phillip had come to her for money. He had asked for money for several things ranging from settling a loan, helping a relative and now, taking care of his sick mother who was battling breast cancer. She couldn't understand why Phillip did not want her to see his mother. Of course, he had given the reason that he wanted her to recover first but Sandra sensed a lie.     Meeting his mother was the least of her problems now. Due to Phillip's constant request for money, she had run into debt and was having a hard time paying her house rent and buying stock for her s

Who deserves life? Who deserves love? Who deserves family? They said I did But they lied. When they came for me And torched my humanity out Like the cow whose master I was Nobody put up a fight for me. But how can you? You turn your head away Away from my corpse Away from my problems And complain of your trivial issues Of how your anus itches. It ought to itch For inside of you Is dirt everywhere I want revenge For the dead husband I never had For the child who kept yelling Mama But Mama never came Mama is gone Everyone is gone But please fight for me Keep me alive And fight for tomorrow. Dedicated to victims of the January 2014 killings in Baga, Borno State, Nigeria. Even though I knew none personally, I feel I had a friend among them, and for this imagined friend I wrote this poem. Dear sister, goodbye.

He always flees When he sees what's inside. When he discovers the strengths He runs away, Like the Jew from a leper But you must love me this way. He says I am too much to handle But every night I wonder, Must a woman feign weakness? Must she hide her real self? Must she give him false glory? Must she deny her intelligence? Must she allow his stupidity rule? I am sorry, But you must love me this way. Maybe others can ,but I can't If we must be, You must love me this way Forever.

When we turned our backs on the world  And shut our ears to their word They said we were mad  For they couldn't understand us  But really, they couldn't stand us For we were willing our minds to dare Rather than continually live in fear Fear of what they said was bad  So they said we were mad

As Fati made sure everything was in order, she couldn't help but think about what her daughter was up to. She abandoned what she was doing and went to the bride's hut. She asked for everybody to leave and then she asked Amina what she was up to. Amina smiled but refused to talk. Fati, becoming nervous asked Amina again with deep pain in her eyes and this time, Amina spoke.    With sudden anger in her eyes, she told Fati she had defiled herself with Usman, her father's cattle boy the night before. To her, that was the only way to get back at her parents since everybody knew what shame a mother and father would bear for having received so much gifts for a disgraceful child from the in-laws. As Amina spoke, Fati gave way to tears. It had never before happened in her family lineage. All the girls in the family had been chaste and so, the thought of Amina's wickedness hurt her. Suddenly, she got up and stormed out of the hut.    Not sure of whether to tell her husband

Amina felt so warm in Adamu's arms and did not want him to let go of her but she knew that he soon would. The plans had already been made, her in-laws would come the day after tomorrow to take her to her husband's house. She was not sure if what she felt was anger or disappointment. Disappointment that her father had given her in marriage in exchange for a farmland. She was angry too that Adamu had not put up a fight for her. They had been lovers since their mid-teens and he had fought quite a number of boys in the village who dared come close to his Amina.    Amina was the village beauty with the curves of a goddess and fierce eyes that only calmed down at the sight of her lover Adamu. Nobody could have imagined that she would end up the wife of a blind man who was older than her father and already had two wives but here it was, all happening so fast. Everybody was surprised and some were happy about it especially Hanatu who had always had her eyes on Adamu. Of course a few o