My Final Dirge: A Poem by Emmanuel Enaku
In secret, I craved your presence.
And then, because I could hold it no more,
I had spilled the words that had multiplied
So much in my heart
heart
A Burning Heart: A Poem by Victor Oladejo
In my ears, I heard the cold legs of fate walking towards me,
Should I tell this young bird that the last person who made my body tingle died when I believed my world was made?
The Darkest Place In The Heart by Victor Oladejo.
𝙋𝘼𝙡𝙉 “ Please just help me balance everything” Miriam begged. Ifeoma shrugged and punched few keys on the keyboard. “ Miriam, this is not the second time, it’s not the third, and am certain this is not the last time we are doing this. If Oga…” “ Just for three hours, just three ooo, lfy babe, just three” she pleaded. “ If Oga comes back, what do you want me to say. the last time you went, we both got queries. And you know how rare this job is. An..and by the way, what is this important thing you are going out for?” she said, with her lips in a funny angle. Miriam frowned at this. Though she had done this in the past. Ify Was crossing her line. Being work pals doesn’t mean everyone should know your business. she wanted to tell lfy that it was no business of hers, but she kept quiet. “ l just want to see someone,” Miriam said calmly. Fighting with lfy won’t solve anything and moreover who would take her desk work willingly for three hours if not Ifeoma? “ Thank you , Aunty lfy, don’t worry my brother will marry you” Ifeoma laughed and continued with her work. She knew lfy would do the job, but she was also careful that she won’t become a topic of gossip in the firm. She packed her things from the desk into her handbag and walked to the toilet. She turned the tap on and splashed water on her face. She opened her bag and took her handkerchief which she used to wipe her face clean. Her phone beeped again. Ralph won’t even allow me to makeup, she said to herself. She dropped the handkerchief on the flat board and reached for her phone in the bag. Her makeup stuffs knocked against other things she kept in the bag as she searched for the device. The phone beeped again and the device’s torch flashed. She picked the phone out of the dark bag. It was a message from Ralph. 𝑀𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔? 𝐴𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒. She smiled. Ralph and his surprises, the last one he did was the iPhone he bought for her. Miriam wondered what he had in store this time. She decided not to make up again. She dropped the phone into the bag and hurried out of the toilet. “ Bye, lfy” she said and walked quickly to the exit. “ Oh, you’ve not left,” lfeoma said. When she got out of the firm’s gate, she took a cab to Raphael’s house. * * * Raphael dropped the camera carefully on the wooden shoe rack, which was an arm’s length to the bed. He clicked record and the small globe on the top of the kodak camera turned green. He walked to the bed and sat on it. He waved his hand in the air, duffed, and grinned like a mad man. Satisfied, he stood and picked the camera. He pressed play and watched the scene he just acted. The video was clear. He nodded and pressed record. His heart was beating faster and his skin was hot. He was scared of what he was about to do and his conscience, like a little god was judging his intentions. He stroked his full beard and breathed inward. The cab driver was playing Kenny Roger’s song — the gambler when she boarded the cab. She sang along for a while before her mind drifted to her relationship with Ralph. They had started as friends which she vowed would remain as such, but it turned out that she had to bend her standards. She knew it would come to this. A relationship without seeking God’s consent is bad, the one done secretly is worse. The cab jolted and made a fast bend to the left side of the road. The car screeched, its sound piercing her ear. The driver said something she didn’t hear, but she guessed it was about bad roads. The cab stopped few metres to a bungalow with a guava tree at the front. Miriam paid the cab driver and walked across the asphalt road to Ralphs’s bungalow. She knocked. “ Ralph?” “ Am coming!” He opened the door and smiled. “ Oh, l thought you won’t come again,” Ralph said, feigning dejection. “ You know l won’t do that. So what is the surprise” she said. “ Okay. hmm, wait. Wh… Why don’t you come in and have a drink before l show…” “ Ralph, you know we don’t do indoors. Our spot under that tree is good. “ “ l know…w… It’s sunny and l think inside would be fine. “ Miriam shrugged and walked in slowly. “ Show me the surprise now, abi. this suspense is too much. I can’t wait. Is it the job?” Ralph giggled and closed the door. “ Don’t spoil it” he said. “Let me close your eyes and lead you to it.” “ You and this your play- play, Oga l no get time, l have just three hours o” “ Okay,” He said and smiled. He walked to her back and covered her eyes with his palm. He gazed at the door of his room at the other end of the passage. It was opened. He smiled and cleared his throat. “ We are going straight,” he said.” one step “ she took a step. “ straight abi?” “ Yes straight” When they got to his room. he took his hands away. “ Your room?” she said and stared at him quizzically. Suspicion crept into her mind and her heart began to beat faster. “ where is it?” she asked. He frowned, licked his lips, and grabbed her. He tore her blouse into shreds and pushed her to the bed… 𝙁𝙀𝘼𝙍 Phillips dialed lfeoma’s number. She was the last person on his mind after he had called a couple of Miriam’s friends. No one had seen her. The phone rang
Seared Into The Heart by Michael Ogbonnaya.
Life is full of experiences. Some are good, others are bad. These experiences play a huge role in moulding us into the persons we become. The happy experience of being with family members, the proud moment when you came out tops in your class, that pleasurable sensation when you first fell in love and had your first kiss, that overwhelming joy when you saw your name on the university admission list, are all part of life’s good experiences. These good experiences are usually intertwined with some bad experiences. The death of loved ones, failure in a particular endeavour, emotional pain of a heartbreak, are some of the sad experiences life throws at us. Interestingly, I have observed that people tend to cling onto their sad experiences while disregarding their good experiences. An undergraduate who passed all his papers experiences a transient happiness which dies off afterwards. In fact, there is usually little or no emotions when he wants to recollect how he sailed through. Constrastingly, a girl who had an extra year in school prolly because she failed a course, would get so emotionally attached to that experience throughout her life. Whenever she thinks about school, she immediately remembers what she went through. The girl who got sexually abused as a teenager would most likely harbor a strong feeling of resentment for men and her heart would be filled with indignation each time she remembers her predicament. Some of such victims now despise men and vowed never to have anything to do with men. Some questions readily come to mind, why are bad experiences imprinted, perhaps indelibly, in our mind? Why do we refuse to heal by deliberately carrying the weight of the past on our shoulders? Why do our sad experiences leave an unforgettable stain in our hearts? Are we created to behave this way? The gratitude of the woman who is healthy cannot be compared to the disappointment of the other woman who has cancer. The joy of the girl who got married in her 20’s is nothing compared to the sadness of the lady who is still unmarried in her late 40’s. The satisfaction of the young man who is gainfully employed in his early 20’s is insignificant compared to the disgust of the man who is unemployed in his late 30’s. I have always wondered, does being emotionally attached to our bad experiences make us better persons? I do not think so. Many persons, while cleaving unto their bad experiences have turned down opportunities for new and pleasant experiences. A girl who refused to heal from the heartbreak of a promiscuous boyfriend might unknowingly ignore a man who sincerely loves her. Some persons have developed a low-self esteem because they failed a single course which led to an extra year in school, while disregarding the fact that the passed about 50 other courses. That girl who performed her rendition beautifully on stage and even got a standing ovation from her audience would only experience a momentary awesome feeling. If the same girl had had a faux pas on stage, that experience would be seared forever into her heart. She might even decide never to give a rendition on stage again. It is true that our bad experiences cause our hearts to bleed. However, we must make the decision to heal and learn from those experiences. Just like physical wounds require cleaning and treatment to avoid emitting repugnant smell, the emotional injuries we’ve sustained requires cleaning and treatment. If we refuse to heal from these experiences, it breeds a negative energy and unpleasant character that scares people away from us. No one likes to stay around people with sore and smelly injuries, be it physical or emotional injuries. The truth is, people are not what happen to them. They are what they choose to become. We must learn to forgive ourselves and move on. It frees us from the past and welcomes us to a potentially great future. Michael Ogbonnaya is a graduate of mechanical engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. He is a creative writer who tries to tackle societal problems with his writing and can be reached via elevatedmikey@gmail.com
A Shattered Heart by Udochukwu Opara.
When the bus came to a halt at her stop after several hours of the journey, Femi reached out for her old leather box that was by her seat and made her way out of the vehicle, leaving a few passengers in it. As the bus drove away, she stood still, closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh warm breeze. she had missed School, the famous University of Cape Town. After what felt like internity , Femi immediately continued her journey to School which was not that far from the bus stop. Walking down the streets of her School, Femi returned the greetings of some familiar faces. Stepping inside the School, Femi smelled the most amazing scent she could have ever imagined. The first instinct of Femi was to follow the scent, but on a second thought, She wanted to wave-off the urge to follow the scent. Pondering on what exactly to do, Femi decided to follow her instinct. ‘Thank God that today I came early to School.’ Femi muttered to herself as She began walking towards the direction which the aroma was coming from. Heading towards the other side of the School, Femi saw Elijah, the boyfriend of her very best friend. She continued forward with caution because she didn’t want to bump into Elijah and make him angry. Elijah was saying goodbye to his girlfriend of three years, Roseline, She was gorgeous and a very good friend to Femi, If one didn’t know, he or she will think they’re from the same offspring. A pair of vibrant green eyes and a blonde hair were prominent and distinct features one could use to describe Roseline. Everyone in School excluding Femi thought that Roseline and Elijah were mates, but no one knew for sure because neither one of them would confirm or deny it. Whenever anyone asked they would just respond how much they loved each other. Not long after Femi got closer to them, the smell became so strong that Femi felt that She would choke on it. So She stopped to look around to see where it was coming from. Standing on a spot, gazing around and sweating profusely as the rays of sun kept pondering over the head of Femi, as She kept searching immensely so as to find out where the amazing scent is coming from. “Femi, Femi!” Roseline called out with a crooked voice. Twisting her head to the direction of the voice, a large force like that of a hippopotamus was about colliding on Femi, as Elijah backed-up, walking backwards and his head was faced front, without even realizing that Femi was about three inches behind him. Femi closed her eyes waiting for the impact of the cold tile when suddenly, a warm strong hand caught her. Letting out a gasp as sparks erupted against her skin as Roseline helped Femi to steady her feet. Femi hesitantly opened her eyes, her breath got stuch in her throat as her gaze was met by a pair of beautiful brown eyes. “We need to talk.” Elijah said motioning for Femi to follow him. As Femi nodded and silently followed him while keeping her head down. Not long after, Elijah and Femi where alreay outside. Elijah quickly carried Femi away from any questioning eyes and ears before turning towards to Femi once again. “How are you doing, Femi?” Elijah asked after a few moments. ‘Am fine,” Femi answered with her head still focused on her feet. Letting out a sigh, Elijah asked, “Femi please, could you look at me?” As Femi began to raise her head, looking at Elijah, trying to gaze what Elijah want to say. Almost as if Elijah was trying to predict how Femi would react to what he was about to say. After some moment of hesitation, Elijah finally decided to speak up. “I’m sorry Femi, am really in love with you, and I just have this feeling that we’re meant for each other, infact, that was the major reason why I had to break-up with Roseline after three years of relationship, but-” Femi didn’t let him finish. “We can’t date!” Femi cried out. “Of course, we can “ Elijah replied. “But what happened to Roseline? Isn’t She supposed to be your fiance!” “Look Femi, the only reason why I called you out here is to prophecy my love to you.” Elijah said as he was attempting to place what he thought would be a comforting hand on Femi’s shoulder. Femi took a step back as she let out a little laugh of disappointment. “You don’t want me. Don’t worry, I get it.” Elijah said as tears began to scroll down from his eyes. “Can you just do me a favour?’ Elijah asked as a single tear rolled down to his cheek. “Sure…….. what is it?” Femi asked taking a step back. “Don’t reject me until tomorrow, please?” Elijah said as he walked away from Femi. After the encounter with Elijah, Femi didn’t feel like staying up at School. So She went back to her small apartment which was directly behind her School. Femi imediately laid down on her bed, trying to catch some sleep, while trying to reflect on the whole incidence that happened between herself and Elijah, as She began to roll on her bed feeling so restless. Seconds passed into minutes and gradually to hours, yet Femi couldn’t sleep. Finally its 5:39 in the morning, still, Femi couldn’t sleep. “Its not a bright start to my day,” Femi muttered to herself as She quickly got up to prepare for School. Shortly after Femi arrived at School, She headed straight to the Office to sign in. Pretty soon after Femi left the Office, a group of guys and girls surrounded Femi, like they wanted to murder her. “What do you think we’re doing here?” One of the girls sneered at Femi. “Excuse me? May I know what you’re talking about?” Femi asked totally confused. Another girl walked up to Femi
