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 the a freestyle session. Each freestyle session is given a topic for the poems to address.

And to round up the poems from the 30th of April 2021, when the topic was “How to pray”, here are poems from the last six hours of the day. Hanna Azubuike came on stage at 6:05 PM, and she said:

Father, it’s me again
I really need your ears
I’m really in pain
I’ve waited for your audience
I really need a change
I’ve gone weary with my efforts
I really need your comfort
My strength has been drained
I really need you
Turn my life around
Make a boomerang
Pump in your grace
And I will bounce back
If you don’t tickle me
I won’t be tickled
If you don’t rescue me
I won’t like victory
I’m tired of this stagnation
I’m revolting within me
My spirit is pretty uncomfortable
I’m warring with myself
My mind is perplexed
Come to my rescue
My help comes from you
Let my ears hear good news
Let my eyes see good views
Let my hands handle good tidings
Let my mouth witness good things
It’s been a long time coming
This is one manner in which I pray

Personally, I feel; like she was just showing off. That passion of a heartfelt wail is not so kneeling in the spurt. It sparks through rather than floods. But she does ok, all devices considered. Her resignation glows.

It was after an hour and eighteen minutes, at 7:23 PM that Princess Pirinye. For those of you who have experienced Pirinye before, you can recognize the consistency in her voice. She is still our royal dynamo, never failing to twist. You who are new to her, please meet Princess Pirinye:

*Hello Dad*
Well, I don’t need to ponder on the words to use
I don’t need to pick them out, before they are misused
I don’t need to know how to construct my sentence and place my tenses
What’s the essence?
I say “Hello Dad” and I’m given so much preference
Everything suddenly freezes
His attention he releases
I’m overwhelmed by how he listens to my request
Giving no excuses, he addresses my distress
“Hello Dad” brings the whole victory.

Princess Pirinye
Freestyle Friday

Yep, and she signs her name. And that is super helpful because, the guys who used to edit this later (me), would need to add that. So adding it for them, she’s an angel.

Coming through at 9:42 PM, was the tie and dye jedi, founder of Surprano Art and Clothing, Prince Adeleye Olaoye with “a lot has changed…”:

A lot has changed since my knees dialled your line,
Then, I had no clogs in my mind,
And I knew what I wanted
I was alien to distraction,
My lungs weren’t polluted with doubts,
“Bless and provide for Parents so that they can buy me bicycle “
These words were always spoken in confidence
With my hands clutched to my chest;
My knees dialling God’s line
A lot has changed since then,
My feelings now live in a dry land,
And thoughts are hard to find there,
And when I find words to draw from my well,
It’s not good enough to be served before You,
How do I sieve out prayers from the debris clogging my mind,
How do I stay still when I have so much to let out
But can’t find words to convey them,
Only tears flooding my facing,
For how long will my pillow endure these pains?
When will my tears water my prayers?
When will my eyes watch my desires grow into reality?
When will these little droplets of words,
Mumbled in my heart carry enough mustard seeds,
To move mountains I see before me
Have I been dialling the wrong line?
Dear Lord, I ask for nothing more
Than to teach me how to pray
I can’t stay still again,
Speak now or I keep dialing your line the best way I know how to!

Hmm…Very sober
Very serious
Very middle of the night

But just then, at 11:17 PM, the goddess in CaP, Chika St. Davnique purred poetry her exotic poetry across our screens:

Our Father,
Who seats in the council of constellations
And drinks cocktails of volcanoes
Hallowed be thy name,
Olodumare-baddest, Agidigba-finest, Keeper of my robe, Lifter of my head, and God of gods. Olowgbogboro, I evolve in pursuit of your words.
Thy kingdom come,
With righteousness as rain. Rein captivity
And over the lawless King reign.
Teach brother Nebuchadnezzar
That Lions eat grass when they try to wrestle with God.
Thy will be done…
In this earthen vessel that is me
My life a mirror of your divine intentions
Picture perfect, bright as your thoughts.
Give me this day my daily peace,
For bread isn’t as filling
Echezona, that my frame is frail
I am shamelessly needing your mercy, daily
And when all is said and done,
Crown my tomorrows in beauty
For thine is the kingdom
The best part of uncertain tomorrows

Amen. Did you have to wake up from that too? So much “Nigerian pentecostal” vibes

This is the same person who, in A WORKBOOK OF GOD DISCUSSIONS, acted like she was not praying on purpose. Shey, I told you guys.

Four minutes to the next day, at 11:56 PM…

It happens to me where I find myself at a few minutes to 12am, and I write fast to try and get in a good number of poems before it’s 12. The finality at the end of Xhika’s piece, like she thought that no one would write after her.

But here is Adeleye Olaoye, four minutes to the next day, at 11:56 PM:

I don’t know how death feels like,
I have not even had a taste of it,
It once walked past me,
And that day, I lost my uncle,
And I was still very much young
But now, every day I am being reminded,
That the grim reaper will come knocking,
Snatching my loved ones away from me,
And I am left helpless,
I do not know how to pray or what to pray for,
When these feelings come,
But one thing I am sure of,
Is What His words say,
I will chew on them,
Till I know how to pray
Selah!

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:
Hanna Azubuike
Princess Pirinye
Adeleye Olaoye
Chika St. Davnique