Takamura vs Zoro

June 8, 2026June 6, 2026Leave a comment

I remember when I started to write like this; when I started sinking to feeling the words in jots of bliss, regardless of the proper pause to punctuate. I couldn’t be made to squeeze the grapes. I’d slice over grate, but I thank God that aging doesn’t kill wine.

So this time, I will let the vapors of my diction medicate instead of entertain, since I’m hoping for a different thing.

I’m hoping to divide the truth behind the things our eyes fail to notice.
Not popularity’s secret
But pop reality’s secrets?
Because the race escaped the swift, and the battle escaped the mighty
I was hoping to attain true power, but my greed made me so indecisive.

Lord, if I am a fight…

I am the Lord’s rifle rifling through Holy Words to reload before I snipe a slice of eternity into a generation. They will hear true hymns of Him through me, even when I’m long gone, like a long gun.

I am one of the Lord’s arrows
I was stoned once but Medusa lost
Praise to God, l trust His love
So I pull back with a rejoice, remembering the sharpening of yester years
Obedience breeds obedience, and each level asks for greater grace
That is why I either lay hands or stand and say

I am a branch burning unconsumed and screening to a thousand Moseses.
We are novices, but we become fools without his seal
Everyone has their own part to play in fulfilling God’s multimillienal promises
Even the devil knows the believer gets the best deal
No negotiations needed, we greet them and that’s it

I am
Like my Father who is all in all
I have more faith in God than in Panadol
You can wait on Him and run in faith, a paradox
But those who did nothing but prayed are still not a pair of ducks
Because admitting we didn’t let God choose is where our para docks
And when we think of those we failed to pray for, our para ducks

I am a voice and a face a group of witty words
Being ignored or being shared,
And I rejoice that heaven read
And I rejoice that God is heard
And I realize I’m sharing bread
And it is spirit-led to be praying to be Spirit-led

I remember when I started to write like this; maybe it is a testament to how God made me. And I celebrate the variety of people. Each of us having a measure of God’s spirit that is no more God-shaped, but us individually. And in Christ, we each receive the Spirit of God. We receive Christ, who was one with God without measure.

Who best to wield you, than your maker?
After all, God knows you more than you will ever know yourself
So imagine the wonder, that He will you, and so much more

To the one who believes…

Godzniel
©2026

Change

November 23, 2022Leave a comment

I like people and how they change, It reminds me of home. Of how one person won’t make it to Christmas next year, and forever. How this might be the last time I’ll tell aunty Chinenye that she’s my favorite. That her hair is beautiful and her smile is radiant. That being the only person in the family with dimples must mean that she was special. That I’ll come for holidays when she got married. That I love her. Before I run away with the plate of corn and _úbé_ she roasted for me to show my mummy.

New people remind me of old people. Of the promises of forever that lasted till worth became what my worth was never. “See finish” is myopic. It assumes that who I met today is better than someone I’ve known for many years. Forgive me for being old fashioned but I believe that the years matter. If our bubble lasts a year, then we have beaten time and seasons that I’ll cherish again and again. Because while people change, you’ve changed and I’ve changed, but somehow we haven’t changed enough to no longer feel the other is less their worth. I have a habit of remembrance. Of beginnings.

I like taking strolls. A slow walk down memory lanes. I like seeing how first hello and hi morphed into not being able to do without. I like change. It has never scared me. That’s why I am never afraid of death. How people leave without a word’s notice. How they change. From being there to being mute. How someone who would kill if you shed a tear will lie there and sleep through your million wails. Tears changes people. Maybe the saline fluid washes a part of ourselves with it when it falls. When we clean it, we don’t just clean it. We erase something too. A trust, a love, a care, a joy, a part of us.

People change but I don’t blame them. I’ve heard people say the stories of their journeys. It’s why I want to make movies. So many untold stories. We judge too hastily for people with the ability to cry so much. And we hold grudges for people that fall short so much. I never got to visit aunty Chinenye because she never got married. Mummy will never see my wife, daddy too, with his funny mustache and remarks. Aunty Faustina will not make good on her threat to tell the woman that I’m stubborn on my wedding day. They all changed. Just like people do. They fell like flowers plucked from life’s petal, to wither on dusty earth. So go ahead dear, change all you want, I’m used to it.

Uc Truth
(C) 2022

I have 50 Naira

July 13, 2021Leave a comment

I have 50 naira
My favorite note.
She used to be beautiful
Blue, fragile and promising
But I still loved her.
Right from childhood,
50 naira held a bouquet of colorful promises
A plate of rice and stew
Plenty wraps of coconut candy
Fanta
Happiness

But then she turned on me
Had a makeover
Became glossy and glamorous
And slowly became worthless.

She used to command respect
now 50 naira has esteem issues,
hardly making any impact when she stands alone.
A once revered note that now only has value in its multiples
50 naira has let me down.

50 naira has now has mood swings
I only get to find out when I arrive at the market.
I just discovered that 50 naira and sachet tomato aren’t in speaking terms
50 naira and onions are no longer friends

50 naira is treading a dangerous path
The path of 5 naira… The path of irrelevance
I’ve tried to warn her.
She said her fate is not in her hands.
That it’s not her fault

50 naira is breaking my heart.
She has changed
Grown distant
I still hold her in my hands but can’t feel her impact in my life.

Damaris Akhigbe
©2021

Now we know

January 11, 2021January 15, 2021Leave a comment

For we are not ignorant of the devices of the enemy
With all the vices going on in various parts of the world
We are firm in the promises of the Lord in His word

The scriptures contain the truth we need so we search
It helps us guide our heart with all diligence all the way
We keep on with the fight of faith for fear is a defeated fellow

Now we know, we wrestle not against flesh and blood
This war we fight neither with swords nor physical strength
But the weapon sharper than two edged sword; the word

So we let not our hearts be troubled for He is with us
We put on the breastplate of righteousness in all
And walk with our heads high in victory parade always

Lady Nancy
© 2020

In Sickness

July 31, 2020August 8, 2020Leave a comment

You were supposed to have his back,
Be his anti-body in this sinful world,
He broke the tablets of our hearts,
When he left us for you,
You had him looking above this cloud,
This cloud of flaws hovering over humans,
You were his mentor; a star guiding him into this Perfect life,
A view obscured and inverted to our hearts,
But a clear and perfect reflection to him,

He never for once ignored your call,
Remember when he housed you with his sisters; Mary and Martha,
He never for once judged and questioned you,
But when he needed you,
You were far from home,
You could have used one of your tricks,
To race against time and space,
But you didn’t, instead, you chose your work over him,
I guess he was always a second choice,
A means to an end; the path to our hearts,

Four days! He has been dead,
This tomb now clothes his lifeless body,
The passage to the afterlife,
And here you come with your twelve,
Wearing sad faces and tears,
Like a kid who lost his candy,
If only the news of his sickness,
Had quickened your feet,
To behold your friend on his sickbed,
Maybe he would have seen another sunset,
Maybe I would have felt his lips on my forehead,
Maybe his Aunt would embraced his warmth one last time,
Just enough for us to bid him farewell,
But you abandoned him,
You broke your vows,
The communion of promises you both shared with one another,
Sleep on Lazarus,
Your friend, Jesus is here,
To say goodbye to his dear friend,
Whom in sickness, he abandoned!

Olaoye Adeleye
(C) 2020

The Faith Virus

July 5, 2020Leave a comment

There’s a pint sized creature dancing in my head
It stomps on the well worn neural pathways
Connecting my thoughts to my fingers
So when I think ‘God is good’
It comes out sort of ‘Gulder’s fool’
And I swear, I’m not even drunk

There’s a pint sized creature dancing in my head
It stomps on the well worn neural pathways
Connecting my visual center to my subconscious
So when I see God’s promises in print
I think “this surely can’t be true”
And then life proves me right

There’s a pint sized creature dancing in my head
It stomps on the well worn neural pathways
Connecting His words to my actions
So when I want to do good,
I find I do anything but
And I don’t even mean to

There’s a pint sized creature dancing in my head
It stomps on the well worn neural pathways
Connecting my heart to His law
So when I see His ability to save me
I concentrate more on my ability to change me
Even when I know I can’t

This tiny bot
Has taken up res
In my software
Daring me to try and fry him
I know I’m not tech savvy
But I do know about malware
So as the word flashes on my screen
I drive this point home;
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God”
So with my mind receptive and vulnerable
My bot is obliterated.

What Faith Sees

February 26, 2020February 27, 2020Leave a comment

What Faith Sees
Faith sees beyond the eyes of beings
that force a flight
through all clouds of sense
that brings evidence
Faith sees unseen things
Hidden from all mortal eyes
And brings to fullness
The good tidings

Faith sees a conviction power from heaven
That holds unto the promise God has given
As His everlasting love encircles us as we run
By His grace to strengthen, guide as we go

Faith sees a conquering power
Strong in might from weakness
Securely fixed in Christ alone
For the victory he won.
Faith sees the cross
As a melting soul repents
Of sin, as he admits his dross
And all is forgiven.