Signatures Upon Cantata: Pragmatic Poems

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Copyright 2014 Smithson Buchi Ahiabuike.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4808-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4807-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4806-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014917580

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Contents

Dedication

INTRODUCTION

Part 1: Cantata

Wasted Generation

Show Us the Way

Pleading

Harvests of Emptiness

Ode to Nwa Nza (THE WREN)

Muse Wells in Abuja

Fire, Fire, in the Farm

If Tomorrow Comes II

Wings, Wings, I Cry

Road Map to Greatness

Lament in Many Chants

Rustic Chants

Ripples in the Critics’ Wineglass

Hailing Small Beginnings

Flutist in the Junkyard

Songs from Diaspora

Colonial Autopsy

The Wine Hills to Freedom

Song of the Fly*

Great Nigerian Novel

Much Ado about The West

Consolation

Conversations with the Silent Walls

To the Black Man

Watching the Birds

Song of a Dream Surgeon*

To the Arrogant Critic

Tears of Manhood

On the Impulse of the Moment

Beside the Lagos Lagoon

Part II:Signatures

Signatures

Sublime Fears

IF TOMORROW COMES 1

Oracle of Our Shrine

Open-Heart Surgery

Cruelty of the Rose

CHIOMA

True Confession

My Morning Song

Random Swings (I)

Poet, a Physician

Time

Fleeting (IV)

Noble Lines

Friendship

To a Senior Friend

Piano and Clarinet

Glory of the Rising Sun

Reflections of the Flesh

Urii Eluama

Passing Streams

Sojourner

Pregnant Clouds

Worst Fangs

My Best Color

To my uncle,

Chief Ukeje Onyemaechi Eloagu

Ojim I of Isuamawu Isuikwuato

To an eternal friend,

Ayodeji Oso, MD

Associate professor of Medicine

Meharry Medical College

Nashville, Tennessee

Tell all intellects, politicians, and poets

Who sleep their cerebral duets

That black genes have more to waste

Than stare in fruitless bitter taste

Fallowing our brains in fear of oppressors

With the intoxicating wand of stolen treasures

Of want of stare in seminal phloems

Our youthful flare with pragmatic poems …

INTRODUCTION

This anthology of philosophical and pragmatic poems lends a voice of nationalism to political protests around the world. These poems have been written in protests to the evils of corruption in the continent of Africa and most other third world countries. In the process, the author has lent his voice with the protests for good governance in Africa. In the same vein, he has many laments on the lack of patriotism in Africa and how much that has set the continent back compared to the Asian tigers that started in the same footing with Africa. It is true that Africa was the last frontier of conquests by the colonial explorers and missionaries, but there is nothing hard about learning from others who have been there to not make the same mistakes of carnage and political unrest that characterized most nation builders. It is true that one of the banes of African politics is her numerous ethnic groups and the need to satisfy each and every one, but we cannot fail to acknowledge that the world is changing pretty fast and that we need to adapt to these changes so as not to be left in the dark any more. Like the crippling darkness still existent in the continent of Africa.

The continent of Africa has remained in the dark in our world of abundant electricity. Africa has remained the Dark Continent in the twenty-first century. If you take a look at the Google map of Africa at night, the continent remains in the dark. This is literal. Why is it that way? The rest of the world is lit with bright light. Why is this so? This is a very important question for the current politicians and the leaders of all the African nations. Why has Africa remained in the dark with crippling poverty? Why are there no patriots in the continent? Why are most African leaders only more interested in filling their pockets with stolen goods than in changing the face of the continent and planting patriotism in the heart of the citizens of Africa? When will true leaders be born in Africa? When will selfless, patriotic leaders be born in Africa? When will more Mandelas be born to all African nations that light may shine for once in this great continent? When will the citizens of Africa wake up and there is enough food to eat? When will the hospitals in Africa be like those in Europe and America? When will good governance visit the great peoples of Africa? When will African government officials think about how to develop Africa to become economically and politically free, not anymore paying lip service for empty campaign promises? The author refuses to stop dreaming of a time when Africa will see the light and her great citizens will heave a sigh of relief from many centuries of poverty and disease. May be not in his life time, but he remains hopeful that someday Africans will rise to glory and take her place amongst all peoples of the world.

As the reader goes through the long lines of poems, some will chant to the past cries of slaves in American plantations, Songs from Diaspora. The plight of the black man in the farms, coal mines, railroads, homes of white slave masters, and all their suffering and pain. In that vein, the author has tried to lift the black man up through historical allusions to great feats done by the ancient people of Nubian Africa who built the Great Pyramids before the numerous conquests by Phoenicians, Greeks, Persians and Arabs. The essence of this is to give the black man his lost pride and self-actualization, which has been eroded by numerous insults for one millennium. The mental damage is herculean and needs to be erased from his psyche to give him back his ego which he must strive to catch up with the rest of the world. This is a daunting task in practicality, but the truth remains that African leaders in the last sixty years have not given this unique continent the serious thought she deserves. If good governance were to start in one African country, the rest will move on from that starting point. The problem is that not one single African leader after Nelson Mandela has caught the fire of truly developing Africa. As such the great peoples of Africa have continued to wallow in the dark even when the rest of the world is basking in the technology and innovations steady power supply brings along to every single citizen in the comfort of their basements.

Should uninterrupted power supply come to Africa, then the continent and her citizens will charge their cell phones and make a call for that small business deal. The student can study all night long to bring innovations to the African way of life. At the same time, a small-scale businessman can harness power to run his small manufacturing business. A garment factory in Aba, Nigeria, can run efficiently and keep workers at work, producing adequate clothing to uplift the peoples of Africa. With adequate power supply, Africa will come alive and the citizens can put their brains to much use to change their world. But darkness has remained in this great continent, and the peoples of Africa have continued to suffer the tremendous impact of such deprivations.

The monumental deprivations of African citizens are the worst in our modern era. African leaders have impoverished Africa for more than half a century now. African leaders are basking in corruption and lawlessness. They embezzle and steal the money of their country’s government and hide them in Swiss banks. They neglect infrastructural development to the detriment of the lives of common people. Honestly, their greed is slapping them and all the citizens right on the face. The corrupt leaders hate themselves and very much so. This is because these same leaders have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles, fathers, mothers, and friends. Their corrupt practices jeopardize the lives of these their loved ones on a daily bases. Yet the average black African remain silent in the face of these monumental tyranny.

Take, for instance, their uncle or sister has a heart attack, there is not one state-of-the-art medical facility to save their lives. By the time they get a private jet to send them to Europe or America; they are already dead. What has the stolen money accomplished? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but pain. Let’s look at another scenario. A minister of one of the branches of the government in Nigeria is responsible for water supply to all urban centers. He steals all the money earmarked for water development projects. His nephew goes to Lagos and drinks dirty water contracting typhoid disease. He is rushed to the miserable hospitals with no diagnostic tools and poorly trained staff. The child becomes seriously sick and dies. How has this wicked, corrupt minister helped his nephew?

In his position of power, he has contributed to the death of thousands of the citizens including his nephew. The law never puts these corrupt men and women in jail, and they keep killing innocent citizens every single day. This is the trend in Nigeria and the entire continent of Africa. Millions of citizens die annually because of bad water, bad roads, armed banditry, kidnapping, bribery and corruption, poor nutrition, poor health services, and utter lack of planning and execution. Corruption is an anthem sung with solemnity. The people worship and adore corrupt men and women in the government, all to their own detriment. How long will this evil last in Africa? One cannot truly imagine. But something has to be done now to save the lives of millions of people. The international court of justice should be empowered to police corruption in Africa. Many people are going to be screaming that this is colonization in the twenty-first century. No, it is not. It is called justice in the face of corruption, tyranny, and dictatorship. Innocent citizens of Africa deserve better treatment than they are getting.

The poet also takes the reader through many adventures of his personal life experiences as in "Tears of Manhood. This poem articulates his experience through hard times and unveils the beauty of the rediscovery of the muse and how poetry was a key, important escape route for him. Some critics have accused the author of egocentrism. That was addressed in the poem To the Arrogant Critic." The author is not at all scared of the hatchet knife of critics, but he wishes that they remain calm till at least he has published half of his works, which run in more than ten anthologies in all. Then they will have more arrows in their quiver to wage an informed critic’s war on his works.

This anthology reads with some degree of intensity and depth such that the range of difficulty will vary depending on the reader’s exposure to the author’s style of writing. This is not intentional, but it rather reflects a journey through the passage in the crucible of poetry and developing own style. Born and bred in Nigeria, he has chronicled his thoughts and feelings for over three decades. There is a clear voice of patriotism to the country