The Hunt

Pouncing like a cornered tigress
which just saw a chance,
The feline of Asian forests
Endangered
Tawny coat,stripes and all.
Tired of being hunted
by ruthless hunters for
her coat,cubs and all.
Total annihilation on their mind.
As in extermination, eradication,
As in obliteration, complete destruction,
of the tawny feline and her line.

They push unrelenting on her trail
Trekked years with young by her tail
Hanging for dear life without fail.
The hunters lunging as with swords
A menacingly brutal throng
On the tigress and her young,
One last swoop, the kill is made
Or so they thought.
Till the hunter became the hunt
Bloodied by the tawny gentle striped beast.
The throng scattered around
Befuddled.


Nwada (Lady) Chinwe Enemchukwu
Onye Uwa Oma
na orlando, Florida
Copyright June 26 2010

DIASPORANS

Sizzling like whistling kettles
Running out of steam,
Despite the heightened heat
from the stoked fire beneath.
Fire stoked daily by bad winds
Hurling from the homeland.
Deadly winds, brutal as the harmattan
Fanning the fire and scorching the skin
of diasporans already double stretched thin.

The whistle, now a mournful whine
Emitting from once courageous souls
Weary from encompassing hopelessness,
Warding off hardship in the host land,
Terrified by surrounding wickedness.
Saddened by frequent untimely passing.
Plain finding it ever harder to stand
The whirlwind life of foreign lands.

Still they struggle to increase the pace,
Trying much harder to transform the race,
Straining daily to get it in stride,
And by so doing,surely control the tide,
And with that success,make it to shore,
From all indications, having tried for sure.

They beat themselves to messy pulp
Taking more than possible in a gulp.
They whistle and sizzle wildly, blowing
Twirling steam in an urgent puff,
Scorching white puff, nothing more.
Like whistling kettles working ever so hard
To give more steam, scorching steam, words
Useless for the problem on hand
But ever so harmful nonetheless.


Nwada (Lady) Chinwe Enemchukwu
Onye Uwa Oma
na Orlando, Florida.
Copyright © June 19 2010

SILENCE AND GOLD

Silence is linked with Gold
As in the American proverb--
"Silence is golden, speech is silver"
A very wise proverb indeed,
stressing the precious value of gold.

But never has silence been so
directly linked with Gold, or to the hunt of it,
As in the villages of Zamfara State,
where the rush for the precious metal
In an abandoned open mine,
Has dealt hard blows to the mettle
Of many in Zamfara and the world.

Silence, deafening silence, no longer golden
to the ears of villagers who now
live with silence, day after day,
night after night.
Silence in place of childish chatter
and laughter, and play, and loving, all
no longer possible.
Utter silence.

Children led away by death, holding
hands with Lead, from the mine of Gold.
Leaving behind, silence, no longer Golden.

Nwada Chinwe Enemchukwu,
Onye ụwa ọma
na Orlando, FLorida.
Copyright © June 8 2010.