Contemporary Literary Review India | eISSN 2394-6075 | Vol 5, No 3: CLRI August 2018

Dike Okoro

Pronouncement

In a country of blind kings

forgiveness is the mask I wear

to play the palace jester

and read indiscriminately

the hearts of conmen.

I adopt the sphinx’s persona

to evade fox holes,

when the impartial judge trades

his conscience in fools’ paradise

to be rewarded with a seat

in the king’s assembly.

Yet, for tomorrow’s sake

I sing spiritedly in outrage

so my salute to the present

will not be resigned

to the rant of the insane. And,

because the poet is a pawn

in the muse’s bag of tricks,

I live the lie expected of me

to amuse the palace parrots

who reside in decorated nests free

but seldom boast of living in nests freely.

I who dare not say nor speak

to anyone

why the rag I wear proudly

compels my noble kings to tears.
 

Not asking too much

There is education in the cultist’s misstep

If you speak to his errors, not his being.

We are troubled the moment we no longer

Recognize our troubles, and

I do not believe in love because love believes in me.

I, a journey in pretense that relies on bait

Set in water

To speak of the fishes blues.

Bring me to your gathering and

Let’s drink to our accidental chagrin.

It’s always the same battle

Of uneven strengths

And repopulation.

The hawk beats the hen in the flight fight,

Her chick the sacrificial bait

Cleaning the assassin’s beak.

We know this song; it breaks

In the bars and buses and houses,

Where consultation with the sins of politicians

Remind the poor of the fenced quarters they reside in,

The paradise in the entangled dream.

Highlife for the songsters

Who jilt their fears in overindulgence in palm wine

To win the respect of their fair weather friends.

The book written by failed dreams

Was never their intention, we know,

Given that someone shat in the toilet

Before the incorruptible users embraced

Good manners,

The tale of innocence tolerated.

But didn’t a song burst in the earth

To permit the cooing of turtledoves in the land?
 

Dr Dike Okoro, Sam Walton Fellow and finalist for the 1994 Iliad Poetry Award, teaches advanced reading and writing poetry and literature courses at Northwestern University, Evanston, USA. He received his PhD in English (with research specialization in African Diaspora literatures) from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, an M.A. in African American literature and an M.F.A. in poetry, both from Chicago State University. He is the editor and author of six books, including Speaking for the Generations: An Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories, Echoes from the Mountain: New and Selected Poems by Mazisi Kunene A Long Dream: Poems by Okogbule Wonodi. His poems, essays, short stories, chapters and articles have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.

Get Your Book Reviewed: If you have got any book published and are looking for a book review, contact us. We provide book review writing service for a fee. We (1) write book review (2) publish review in CLRI (3) conduct an interview with the author (4) publish interview in CLRI. https://literaryjournal.in/index.php/clri/rev

Contemporary Literary Review India: Contemporary Literary Review India (CLRI) is a literary journal in English and publishes a wide variety of creative pieces including poems, stories, research papers (literary criticism), book reviews, film reviews, essays, arts, and photography of the best quality of the time. CLRI is an internationally referred journal and publishes authors from around the world. https://literaryjournal.in

Leaf Press: Leaf Press publishes books, anthologies and academic books with ISBN. We bring out books in paperback, digital and PDF formats. We specialize in publishing English literary books including fiction, story and poetry anthologies, PhD thesis papers and critical analysis. We welcome new authors. Visit our website http://leafpress.in.

Authors & Books: We publish book releases, Press Release about books and authors, book reviews, blurbs, author interviews, and any news related to authors and books for free. We welcomes authors, publishers, and literary agents to send their press releases. Visit our website https://authornbook.com
 .