Written by: Jean Yves Knight

''Oh Africa,

The thirst of a better life, the thirst of a better future made me fly life an eagle... I saw a huge cloud, I saw my people ,I saw my country, my saw continent living into lies and dictatorship.

Today,

When I look into your eyes all I see a consolation, I see the same light that guided Emery Patrice Lumumba, and I see the same light that guided Nelson Mandela to freedom. Oh Africa keeps going till you reach the start.''

Trapped election-night confidence
By Komlan A. Aloysh

They were confident and loud with unyielding certainty
When the night fell weightily on us.
They believed deeply their words and deeds just before
They closed their eyes and let nature do its part.

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This is my life, my story and the way I choose to tell it. Enjoy! 



By Randell Zuleka Dauda

You ever pray with all your heart and focus on God for so long that by the end of your prayer you feel hot tears on your face? Yea this morning was one of those prayers. I haven't had this kind of conversation with God since the death of my father. I remember being angry at God for taking him away and angry that I could do anything to change it. I cried to God so much when I realize that even with death, we have to be grateful.This morning I talked to my God about my decision to let go of so many things that been keeping me down. I pray for faith to be able to wait on the time of God. I pray for my mind to stop thinking of revenge, but to start counting my blessings. I pray that God will speak to my heart and replace hate with love. I pray that in everything even when hurt, I should find time to give thanks. I pray he opens my heart and let his love fill it. I pray he continue to show me his way. The power of prayer is unbelievable. I got up from my knees feeling a lot better about moving forward. I am ready to just lean on the faith of God. It takes a disappointment from man to show the amazing power of God- its sad! I am lucky to have a connection with God that I can talk to him, cry to help and just be myself. Praying opens up new thoughts and possibilities. Try it sometimes :-)
 
The power of prayer is unbelievable- I am glad I can experience it. 

By I. Rhymes

Father forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass us
We stand forever unworthy of your divine mercy
But without your grace, we live with our hearts and minds thirsty
Yearning for your blessing, your guidance to order our footsteps.
And when we stumble you catch us, ignoring our sinful two-steps.
Dancing with the devil, flirting with disaster
Blind to the beckoning of our Lord Savior and Master
Open our eyes Lord, and soften our hearts
Help us resist his advances, so Satan departs
Our body, your temple, help us keep holy
Our trust, not in man but in you it rests solely
Your grace and Divine Mercy continue to bestow on all men
We pray through Christ your Son, Heavenly Father. Amen

By I. Rhymes

Happy birthday to my lil nephew Nathan
You melt my cold heart like only a babe can
I can’t believe you’ve already been here three long years
Seems like yesterday we were posing in matching shirts
Now you hold mature conversations with big words like Octagon!
Picking things up quick, drawing on your etch a sketch, wipe it quick And it’s gone!
Your mommy Efua does a great job, we know that’s all true
But it takes a smart kid to absorb it and that’s all you.
And we could say you get your looks from daddy, Jude who’s handsome
But let’s not lie, you’re a whole lot cuter, and then some!
Being the terrible uncle I am I don’t get to see you as often as I ought to.
But this snowstorm couldn’t stop me seeing you on your birthday, I’m glad I got to
I’m gonna try to do better even if I’m having the worst day
To see you as many more times as possible before your next Happy Birthday!

By I. Rhymes
​
And just like that she left me
A heavy pain in my heart so hefty
I still can’t believe I’m standing here all alone
Still Stateside but she might as well have moved to Salone
Sending her letters by mailman, someone call Karl Malone
Instead of face to face now it’s Facetime on iphone
I guess it’s time I upgrade the data plan on my phone
I understand she’s leaving to make a better life
But it feels like she’s leaving to be another’s wife
No telling if we’ll ever see each other again
So my emotions are mixed, is this a loss or a gain?
When it comes down to it though she’s not by my side
You see my warm smile but not the cold pain my eyes hide
I’ll continue the calm facade, though deep down I want to scream
Until we’re once more on the same side of a screen

By Komlan A Aloysh
Poem: In here        
Fear. Tension. Anxiety.
Spend their wild times with me daily,
Fill my head and pump my heart in shapeless forms and pieces.
I lift up my flaccid heart to get through the coarse day.
I’m in here, staring under power pressed against me,
Barely grasping my breath in this virulent atmosphere,
Filled with noxious stain of fresh blood, gushing the streets.

Oh.. mama, though the ocean breaks our physical space,
I am constantly reminded that you are in my presence.
Oh.. mama, I call you daily because I’m in here,
Where fear and tension visit me daily through the back doors.
 
Your voice draws you closer to me,
comforts and gives me hope that,
I can still breathe while suffocating under this intemperate force,
Pressed against my helpless and innocent body.
I call you daily because every day appears to be my last;
I call you daily because I may not hang on too long;
My breath sinks deeper and deeper.
 
I weep each time our precious time screams its own name,
Knowing it could be our last.
Oh.. mama, my  heart sinks deeper
And deeper in the dark abyss of fear.
Oh.. mama, Please know that I love you,
Please know that you are all that I have in this world.
I’m in here, knowing that I may not hang on too long,
My breath fades away slowly with intensity like a cold night candle,
Flickering its fatigued hand.
 
If my soft voice fades away,
Know that I have given up my hand to impatient time;
Know that I have suffocated under this gratuitous force.
I’m in here and every day is the day I fight to take just a light breath,
If time is kind enough.
  
 
Poem: Losing the Eyes of Expectation
 My mind pushed me calmly with
its soft hands,
raised its eyes high above what I could imagine.
It reminded me that Paradise has a twin sister here
with us on Earth,
where everything is polished and glimmers.
When opportunity paid me a convivial visit
to go and see Paradise’s twin sister,
wallowed in irrepressible joy,
I carried with me the heavy weight of expectation and blindness
painted inside me with colourless crayons.
I arrived where Paradise’s twin sister meets her countless delusional visitors,
yet I still requested to be in her magical presence.
Until I was reminded that she’s the one standing before me,
I had lived in the time that mind had shown me,
Hinged to its void,
Lost to its soft words and hidden deception.
I have lost the eyes of expectation,
I have faced reality shining in plain sight,
and everything is just like all that I left behind where I came from.
 
 
Poem: The Moon’s Dim Stare 
I saw the moon last night for the first time in a long time;
it stared at me with fatigued eyes like a defeated wrestler,
making me wonder where it has been all this while.
 
I realized that it has not gone anywhere;
it has been around stretching its eyes in recognition,
but the luminosity of artificial lights blurs its stare.
 
But it reminded me that it's still around - and still staring
vaguely, hoping to be recognized again.
And again.