Freedom my antidote

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6pm today would have found me sobering up a few years back,
warming up for fellowship with a God I didn’t know.
Asking for forgiveness for buying water during worship, a day I ought to keep holy.
No one told me what he did for me,
No one told me how loved I was.

Come as you are they say, but you are forced to drop your earrings at the gate
For every question I asked I was told to wait for a heaven I wasn’t sure of,
These questions are for God Imani
Quit asking, you sin.
Wow! Now I understand why I couldn’t ask questions in class either.

I recall speaking with grace, and she wasn’t quite gracious with her words
“You’re walking into the gates of hell dear, retrace your steps”
Oh grace… I wish she knew what her name really meant before she kicked the ugly bucket.

For the first time that year I picked up the Bible and read for myself… no,
it was more drastic
Scriptures where literally jumping at me and I couldn’t even dodge.

Sitting in this gracious mansion
I still see myself opening doors
Entering territories that mirror his grace, love, and peace…

Keep opening He says, you’ll find more… You stepped into abundance the moment you arrived here.

Now I’m so in love

Christ my Freedom
Christ the antidote

Imani Nnaemeka M
©2026

Free Anyway

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We’re free to judge whether or not we went to law school
We’re free to love whether or not we get loved too
We’re free to give whether or not we are forgiven
We’re free to laugh even when there’s course for crying

It’s flowing now

I got tapes I cannot delete
I’m growing now
All the pressure is my habitat
They told me where to go to turn out well
I told them anywhere you are in God you still gonna sell

Godzniel
©2026

I forgive

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Freedom taught me
That the concept of love was for gives
So I occasionally force my stingy-always wanting to win, never taking the feet off the pedal-self to bow and leave

But then I land and wither
Like the falling part of a tree
I don’t flourish in every weather
Like one time I was meant to give 4 times to a bank in Nigeria
I only gave 3
And after that I was done
Thank you for banking with us
I knew I was forgiven much
And my freedom didn’t come at a cost
I knew I was allowed to deposit same over the counter
But it seems when it came to money I’ll rather stay and count her

Maybe one day I’ll tell a tale of my experience with these red people
For I know
That even though I’ve broken and eaten three times before
My Lord is still concerned with the one time-12 baskets-I left over
So I’ll keep learning from this chapter
Of my UBA encounter

UcTruth
©2026

The Inherited Cage

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Freedom.
But the church billboard has 20 ‘don’ts’.
Mum enforces same ‘don’ts’ at home.
‘Honour your father and mother’
So I adhere with occasional slips
So that my life can reduce by seconds.
My birth country is Nigeria
But I will die in the Bahamas which is 5 hours backwards
So that’s fine.

He says a rib is missing from his cage.
She says her vagina is wide for his sake.
He tries to put her in her place.
You would think it’s by his side
But they tell heads, necks and tails tales.
Whatever their tale
I’m a heir of grace.

ChyD
©2026

Uncultured Uncles

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I was born into dins of dissident incidences
Lacking coincidences
Favorite of my Aunties
The boy was a magical entity, bringing smiles to the Mummies
But the bar for measuring African masculinity
Fell so far down the mount, it started Aunty-Aegin Mi
Yet they call it disrespectful to name the discrepancy
So allow me both rant and worship with some poetry

Far be it from me to reduce the metaphysical to feasible, or independent to coefficient
But tell me why a man would lack the wisdom needed to be deemed efficient
Would be different—if we didn’t have a God of War
Would be different—if Jacob never triumphed over Esau
Would be different—if my King was still in the tomb on the fourth day
But He did say, All power now belongs to the Son, shey?

Tell me why mediocrity is being fed egos
Tell me why we men want but won’t be heroes
Table-tennising narratives where we need help
Taking shortcuts instead of having roads paved

Nah.

Lord, toss the mantle on me
Teach me Your taxonomy

Godzniel
©2026

Steadfast

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The world wan mount roadblock,
them no gist am say
na bulldozer dey come.

Heavy rain dey fall,
yet this soil of a man
no fold,
no wet.

’Cause I don learn say—
na person wey stand fit
dey see where the road dey go.

So even when storms come.
When bills rise.
Abi na people leave.
Or voices whisper—

“Abeg, rest.”

But I remain gidigba.

Because steadfastness no mean say
I no go tire—
it is being tired
and still saying,

“I no go give up.”

So if life throws me stone,
I go build am on the Rock of Ages.

When the door shuts,
I go knock like landlord
wey wan collect rent.

When the journey stretches,
I stretch with am.

I go bend,
but I no go break.

I go fall,
but I no go stay down—
I go find root
and rise again.

Because God no build me
for temporary courage.

So make the wind try me.
Make the fire question me.
Even the night wan delay my dawn.

I will still stand fit.
Face show.
Shoe shine.

No shaking.
No retreat.
No surrender.

Na the grace of God
motor carry me come,
and I no fit stop here.

I dey steadfast—

still standing,
still moving,
still becoming.

And until the Author of Faith
says “END,”

the story continues…

UbdaPoet
©2026

Again

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I have been standing on Your promises for years,
I have been a figurine in a world filled with motion,
Yet, my destiny feels like a stillbirth,
A prophecy waiting for its fulfilment.
Tomorrow no longer feels like a new dawn,
But an aftertaste of past miracles.
I too, have been crippled by waiting,
But my steadfastness is anchored on
The bread broken by the lips of others.
If He did it for them once,
I know He will do it again.
This time, it will be my turn.

Olaoye Adeleye
©2026

Violet Dawn Incense

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I have no complaints
Only praise to the God of our salvation

My God is the Highest and He has restored me my joy, my years, my glory; He has even blessed me with awesome people, awesome abilities, wealth and comfort, wisdom, providence, superb health.

His praise fills my mouth
His visions educate my mind
His prophecies watch steps
I am blessed
My fathers call me a prince amongst men
My kin have prized my presence above hard currency and thrown down their savings to the dust to laugh with me

I am highly blessed and sought after even by my enemies

And yet, I am a servant in my Father’s house; even a errand boy for the Will of God.

Ah
I will celebrate my God
That His banner be raised
And His glory be seen

Jesus is Lord
As the Father has designed

I am a man that the True and Living God walks with
And it is marvelous and prized priceless to my heart.

Godzniel
©2026