African poetry – Cajun Mutt Press

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/20/23

November 20, 2023 James D. Casey IV

Universal Phobia

Carried away by the worldly materialism,
People run away from what is impervious, natural,
And what, in life, must smile and breathe.

I am innocent of what its cause may be,
But, here, I am touched, deeply moved,
And my heart, like a magma, melts itself
And loathes my consciousness.
Now, I can no longer see; my eyes are a replica
Of the Nile. &, again, I can no longer hear;
My ears are a duplication of my mother’s silence.

Behold! Today, I lost my essence;
My face is an earthquake–it’s a disaster,
It infuriates every eyelid that gets its center swallowed by my face.
My face reminds crowd of eyes that life is not water,
It is a conglomeration of broken hopes.

Dear uncle death,
I am an innocent boy that knows your scent
Since the day I clocked 10 years on Earth.
*You are the universal phobia in each heart that has a soul.
You are yourself. Your fear is what makes me human.
I hate you yet you keep loving me.
& someday, you will journey with me
To the land where only the bodies of lifeless souls breathe.

Yahuza Usman, a Hafiz, typist and graphic designer, is a Wikimedian, poet, spoken word artist, short-story writer, essayist and the Secretary of Taraba Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation from Al-Mishkat Academy Jalingo, Taraba State. He has his works published by Al-Mir’aatuh Magazine, World Voices Magazine, Literary Yard, Itell Stories and Everything Beautiful, ArtingArena, Afrihil Press, Opinion Nigeria, Synchronized Chaos Magazine, The Daily Pointers and elsewhere. Yahuza is the coauthor of the book Let Me Grieve, and he bears “Crawling Writer” as his pseudonym.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/01/20

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020 James D. Casey IV

Hunger

If you’ve ever felt
The blunt blades of hunger
Fell tinted trees in your tummy,
You’d till the hills.

If you’ve ever seen hunger
Rough-ride you to that land
Where one’s own spit turns salty
You’d man the land.

If you’ve ever heard
Intestinal cockerels crow
For food down their hurt,
You’d love your job.

I too have felt
Its blunt blades in my tummy,
Its sharp spin in my eyes.
These bones are lonesome

Searching for flesh to cuddle?
Lazy limpet, why should you;
Why should I burry my strength
For hunger to hung me up?

Fareed Agyakwah- is an African poet committed to PESTEL (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) poems and artistic activism. Both poems reflect on Africa’s natural past- even healing the African way. While the former reflects on his childhood experience, the latter draws a link between nature and religion. His work has appeared in several magazines, journals, e-zines and anthologies such as Cajun Mutt Press, Setu Bilingual, The First Anthology of World Gogyoshi, Nationalism (Africa VS North America) Vol.2, Versatile Verses, Peace: A Pathway to Love and Harmony, The Harmony: Indo- African Footprints, Wreaths for a Wayfarer, Cascade and Sunup.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 06/24/20

June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 James D. Casey IV

The Rain at Gambian Bridge

I have come to behold you
and sing of your dazzling waterness

just at the point of the meeting
of the Gambian and Atlantic
the watery ripples slowly,
luxuriously, embracing each other
and the refreshing coolness of night
and we the witnesses place our presences

the gathering cloud of storms
stormclouds and calls for rain
around the sun’s grilling heat
as we the witnesses watch for a porch

quick as an eyewink
flashes everywhere as
suspended twinkling of angry stars
then water poured on waters
breaking in nature’s rhythm
with a slow sudden shock serene
as we speak

and we the witnesses take
the pleasure of the coconut trees
for shelter.

Obinna Chilekezi is a Nigerian poet and insurance practitioner whose poems have been published in journals and anthologies. He has three published collections which are: Son Chikeziri too died, rejection and other poems, and Songs of a Stranger in the Smiling Coast. One of his insurance texts won the 2016 African Insurance Organisation Book Award. He can be reached at ugobichi@yahoo.com or obinnachilekezi1@gmail.com.