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UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY
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UCHE PETER UMEZ
Senseless bullets of fire burst over the niger delta the land seethes like the middle east up the palls of darkness shoot hate fumes itself into a cauldron religions boil a vortex and my people spread across the verdure breadth of my land slash the palms of harmony tear down the curtains of peace batter their brows in the bloody field of senseless crises. We No Longer Weep We no longer weep: empty baskets threadbare nets glum fishermen niggling wives tattered children restive youths groaning bellies drooping breasts parched faces lament for the lost plenteous past? protest against the pestiferous present? moan out dirges for our forlorn future? we no longer weep: warm rains corroding the comfort of rooftops eroding the exuberant green of trees smeared swamps clogged creeks awful air fishes flopping in the Delta of oil farms burrowed through by bulbous pipes of despoliation our lives are Shell-ed stalks of shrivelled sap: we no longer weep even for the death of Heroes who rattled the dreams of Them? Uche Peter Umez is a winner of the 2006 Commonwealth Short Story Competition, and his poems and stories have been published on-line and in print. He is the author of Dark through the Delta (poems), Tears in her Eyes (short stories) and Aridity of Feelings (poems). |
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© 2007 Underground Voices |
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