Jesus
Behold the Lamb of God
Worthy of ethereal praise
Holy, ordained Lord and Christ
Jesus
Behold eternity’s main character
The cause our curse no longer cost us
Resurrected, returning husbandman
Jesus
Behold the word of God
Presented in perfect reflection
The image of the living God
– Ezeonyeka Godswill
(c) 2022
Hello, My name is Niel and these are the ChristaPoet Freestyle Sessions. This year, ChristaPoet wants to give you a special perspective to our freestyles. At first, some of these poems were published as stand-alone pieces. But in actuality, each poem is an untitled part of a freestyle session. Each freestyle session is given a topic for the poems to address.
Today, the topic should be “Bearish moments with God”. This article is dedicated to the times when I would put out a topic and no one, sometimes including myself would write on it. I would normally feel kinda bad.
For example, July 16th, 2021, at 10:58 AM; I declared the topic “Responsibility”
And at 11:11 am, I wrote:
Woke from my slumber, no it wasn’t a party
Woke since this ember, so twas the Father that lit me
Wow, call the members of the Body he bears with
What could be the purpose of a purr posing at me
Like iz me that should walk
On the waters of course
I resay what he says
Make the best of the worst
Res…ornate with the truth
His conduct will result
Make disciples and be
Work my spiritual glutes
But no one wrote back.
It was just that kinda day.
On the 6th of August, this happened again. Topic was “Relationship”, yet no one…
The next day, 7th of August, I wrote at 5:07pm
Fire in my eyes, Water on lips
I get low on highs, But I let The Lord eclipse
And I’ve learned not to bless in human cursive
What’s related to success’s successes is relative
New singles cooking, tell the Nerd to turn it all up
I would get conceited but I pray too much to mess up
Feeling like Paul except hebrews more disciples than me
God got babies I’m a nanny and the job is paying
Z why I’m peeps all over Lagos if they’re saved
Fire in a rain storm
Burning all your doubts
Argument and miracles, pick your court
But we don’t play, we make sure while they make mouth
What’s the line between dinner and a dead man
The hope that won time by creating it
Call the one name won names in him
Saturated God-ness The Reason and the Risen
But it wasn’t until the following day, 8th of August that Godswill and Zoe Ziva.
4:08 PM, Godswill wrote:
I have seen God work words into wielding swords
How he bends thoughts to elemental awe
Creator Original causing courses that confounds clarity
I am witness to million miracles happening within seconds
Mighty demonstrations of power hidden from human vision
I am one of 7 billion distinct wonders
Travelling on an inexplicably perfect positioned planet
Forget it joor
God is awemany
And he did not stop:
Love toh sure
You can always bank on it
Perfect, present, pleasing, personal and poise
Love that exists to ensure eternal exemption from wrath
Giving, glorious, graceful and gracious
Love that loves us into loving
Tender, thorough, true and trustworthy
Chayeee
I joined in at 4:43 PM:
Testy testimonials testifying to tasting fire
Tess or Tracy, the test is changing text to power
Trace back to the prophets and testimonies older
I’ve been with the bandwidth of routers that avoided God
Still he found ignoring hypocrisy absurd
The soldiers want a soldier made out of the broken hearted
But my God is still turning dead shit into Harpic
At 6:21 PM, Godswill took back the microphone:
Prince of Peace that passes all understanding
Cos we shouldn’t be in the valley smiling but check who’s riding with us
I’ve got Shepherd vibes all around me, my victory is unforced
God is creator and life to me
Sustainer and I rely on him
Father and guide to him
Lover so reckless, he died for me
And he went on: What a saviour
Seizing sons off Satan’s sinful sizzle
What a judge
Justly he justifies us as just men through Jesus
What a daddy
Daily dishing doses of divinity to delivered deviants
What a God
At 7:14 PM, the Abuja princess Zoe Ziva jumped into the fray:
The One whose throne has emerald circled, whose throne can never be overthrown
Whose voice makes the thunder shiver, clapping in awe and awesome wonder
The one whose whisper is as soft petals kissing the layers of my skin, still His voice is like music harmonizing – a beautiful symphony.
The one whose love makes life take a seat, a sheet and pen, jotting down in tears.
The One so patient, loving, gracious and kind still regardless of His many possible options, He chose my heart for His chair
And finally, at 7:22 PM, behold Eremi:
God doesn’t hide behind emojis
Sending a ‘lol’ when you do something funny? When he laughs, distance doesn’t fade the echoes it leaves on your soul
He doesn’t send you a grinning emoji to tell you He’s pleased, Your whole being feels it.
He doesn’t send you a ‘happy sweat’ when there’s a close call. For He’d gone way ahead of the situation to drop the alarm, sending angels in place to make further restrain, and even amidst man’s stubbornness, he still stretches out to deliver
Ain’t no need to send you ‘hearts’ or a smiley face with hearts when your heart already feels his syncing
When you desire comfort a black heart isn’t what he sends, He speaks in you with a voice peaceful amidst raging thoughts. Even an emoji hug can’t give a little spark of such peace and when he hugs you, the warmth chases the cold of loss
He takes no chance at leaving distance to distort His Care-message
His every emotion sends frequencies audible enough for even the hair on your skin to pick
God doesn’t hide behind emojis
He tells you to your face that He loves you
What’s the worst you can do?
No? He receives your ‘No’ with ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’
And if he ever had an emoji, it would be all the works of his hands, upon which he poured his essence. So if you ever feel distant from Him, look around you…let the wind remind you of words and when you hear his voice in the roaring of the waves, see his light in the bright rays of the sun. Believe his words when he says He’s all around you and within you.
There will be days in your life when…you want to just shut down either because of negative feedback.
Speak the Word!
Not the situation.
Authors:
The Niel Quchi
Godswill Ezeonyeka
Eremi
Zoe Ziva
Hello, My name is Niel and these are the ChristaPoet Freestyle Sessions. This year, ChristaPoet wants to give you a special perspective to our freestyles. At first, some of these poems were published as stand-alone pieces. But in actuality, each poem is an untitled part of a freestyle session. Each freestyle session is given a topic for the poems to address.
The first friday of the Month of May 2021, the 7th of May 2021, was that kinda day with a mighty fine topic. At 12:01pm, I announced the topic, “Opportunity Cost”.
Now, there are a few topics that left a mark in my mind for so long after they have been written on. Meet Opportunity Cost
Hanna Azubuike wrote in at 12:18pm, not a poem or spoken word…no, she wrote a little quote:
Opportunity costs constant practice of preparing for one.
It’s like that snake that eats its own tail. Not bad, I reckon. And her vibe bounced around until it 2:35 PM, Lady Nancy picked it up with the same vibe:
They say opportunity come but once
Once again I say it’s a lie
What does it cost God to create one?
And another and another?
See?
Same vibe, they both went for a flash of perfection. But behold, at 3: 30pm, I had something to say of opportunity cost:
Opportunity costs me my bed
Is this real or in my head
Like the faces behind me
BRT, ATM and NYSC
Opportunity costs you excellence
Is being sincere worth any pretence?
No?
Respecter les doses prescrites
Of course the training shows
Persons here already see the precedence
Opportunity costs us disorganization
Is that the time that you start preparation?
Everywhere within our reach,
There is an opportunity
Is this a lie?
Life cascades opportunities
And that was the first round, second round was made available at 3:53pm:
First I kissed a girl, I was drooling in my Pampers
By the time I’m paid, maybe she’ll be done with masters
Quchi told me no, Niel went and left us
Two word foods in Naija will have you moaning in tongues
EastSide till I second-yeared in the work
I watch so I do not end in the work
Operation “Depopulate Hell” in the Works
My main works say ministry, ministry works
If the sky spits me at the moon but I’m cloud-clad
So instead I land on Saturn, in a bed of pepper fumes, lost in what I had
If my straightness came with a jacket
If you never met me, would you still fall in love?
The child says, “tomorrow” like it’s not the same day.
Would you take a picture?
Not a good time?
Not a good time?
Where else could you be?
Would you take a picture?
Not a good time?
Yes yes, I apologise for drifting off. At 4:34pm, Uba came to the fore:
So, I remember all the opportunities that I didn’t take
The mistakes made
The cost was time
A price too expensive to pay
But Hey, no time to dwell
Ahead ahead is the movement
This back wasn’t meant for the floor
This mind can’t be rooted to a spot
Cuz when HE plot my life’s curve it was always for the x-axis
Father Abraham’s bloodline
I’m too rich to be broke
And I’m dead to this world, his word was the kill shot
So even if I bleed anguish and pain
His blood has clot that hurt
Eremi followed through at 5:33pm with her classic quatrain stanzas of wonder. We should talk about Eremi’s writing syle oe of these days. The clarity of it, within the form of classic or textbook style poetry, makes her a pleasant surprise to read. Check this out:
“Opportunity no get price tag oh
Be careful of those
Their costs are never small
You can be so sure”
To expatiate
Opportunities, could they be like flies?
That bug when the place is messed up
And leave a few behind when the place is all clean?
Could they be like mirages
When you could only perceive them from afar
They tend to disappear when you get closer?
Could they be like fantasies?
That only come when your lids are closed
And your heart open to fantasize
Because your hands can’t seem to reach?
I dare say
Opportunities come everyday
So does distractions
Of want
Of the appearance of good
Of misplaced priorities
Or of courage unwilling to surface
And each day we trade
We barter opportunity
For what we may have tagged impunity
But please
Keep watch for when “Kairos” moments
are on display
Their costs are usually heavier
Because they are weightier
You would only know how valuable when you owned them
Woah!! Dripping awesome!!
Need I say more?
I believe that if you had read any of these poems on their own, you would get a part of the picture. Now you see them together, I think it’s a more wholesome picture. Tell us what you think, and see you next time.
Authors:
Eremi
Hanna Azubuike
Lady Nancy
U.B.A.
Niel Quchi
The blood she shed was all her own.
She’d found no way to staunch the flow
For twelve long years.
The cost to her in doctors’ care
Was nothing to her shame and her enormous fears.
Unclean and thus untouchable
She knew she’d live and die alone in blood and tears.
The world had turned its back on her
And all she saw and all she touched was tinged with red.
Denied the right to worship God,
Denied the Temple courts by law, her soul was dead.
Denied all comfort, love of friends
And touch of man, she kept alone her blood-stained bed.
Her last hope lay in this new man,
But with her touch she’d make him, too, unclean, outcast.
And should she even hope for help?
Of all the people God might heal she was the last.
For it was God who sent the curse,
The blood and shame, the loneliness, through Laws He passed.
In spite of all these doubts and fears,
Mistrust of God, she took her chance – a touch unseen.
Then, Jesus, the untainted, changed the Law to Love.
Her world became new, fresh and green.
The blood He shed was all his own,
And flowing down it covered her and washed her clean.
Pamela Urfer
© 2021
I stopped driving at 16 when I had my first accident. The cost of it all made me decide to let the keys go, like lovers on some bridge in Paris, after adding their locks to the teeming number that will cripple the bridge.
This is not a poem. And it is not about lucks or keys
or a kiss or about spoon feeding emotions
or trying to have a relationship
or driving a career worthy of a Fast and Furious adaptation or a Shakespeare narration.
This is to the one who has felt heartbreak close up but, like one of the blind asked to describe the structure of the elephant, will take my words with a pinch of salt. Add it to that part of your wound that a heartbreak caused, cover your cracks with it, do an Nsibidi inscription on your sensitivity.
Heartbreaks are bad for your Health.
Remember when I said I stopped driving, well, I will drive again, and again and again and again. That is how hearts get broken…and heal.
You love or trust or have certain expectations for/from people, their inability to meet up or match your expectations leaves you hurt, and now I have been summoned from Frankenstein’s grave to tell you this;
Don’t stop loving, don’t stop being optimistic, don’t stop expecting the best from people.
Don’t stop believing…
Don’t stop loving…
That is how hearts get broken…and heal enough to heal other broken hearts.
Ice Nwa Ǹkwọ
©2020
The only medicine that has no prescription
No unpleasant taste
And cost no vortex of energy
Is to always smile
A take with incredible equanimity
Your generosity comes in times of scarcity
Done brazen facedly
Am vaccinated by you against infection
Because you give me a sense of humour
To maintain Stoic indifferent
And also impervious to the chilly wind of scorn
You become an aid as to a good riddance to the poor
And as a scaffolding of hope to the hopeless
A charmed strewn of sunlit shard
To lovers in happy relationship
Within the dying ashes
You blow the sacred spark
And make the hearts of lovers
To leap against the dark
You send happiness and a million pleasant thrills to the heart
To parched souls thirsting for love
In the vast desert of human affairs
Playing aide of rhythm to
Encouragement in circumstances.
A therapy used regularly to heal
Persons with varied ailments
With wonderful tonic for life’s ills ..
David Darby
© 2019
Christ a poet 