The Stars Have Departed by Christopher Okigbo

The Stars Have Departed

The Stars have departed,
the sky in monocle
surveys the worldunder
The stars have departed,
and I-where am I?
Stretch, stretch, O antennae,
to clutch at this hour,
fulfilling each moment in a
broken monody.

Christopher Okigbo

Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was born in 1930. He was a Nigerian poet and he is today widely acknowledged as the outstanding postcolonial English - language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the twentieth century. He died in 1967 while fighting for the independence of Biafra.

Newcomer III by Christopher Okigbo

Newcomer iii
(for Goergette)

In the chill breath
of the day's waking
comes the newcomer
when the draper of May
has sold out fine green
garments, and the hillsides
have made up their faces
and the gardens
on their faces
a painted smile:
such synthetic welcome
at the cock's third siren
when from behind bulrushes
waking
in the teeth of the chill Maymorn
comes the newcomer.

Christopher Okigbo

Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was born in 1930. He was a Nigerian poet and he is today widely acknowledged as the outstanding postcolonial English - language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the twentieth century. He died in 1967 while fighting for the independence of Biafra.

August Break by Okogbule Wonodi

August Break

After three months of long break
The land is a sodden bed
Of dried pond. The tarred roads shine
Fine threads of steam to the air.

The playground jump and chatter
With the presence of children
In games abandoned yesterday
When the sky was falling tears.

The streets bustle with vendors,
Calling their wares by sweet names;
And the radio shops yell out
The rival sounds of Highlife.

Okogbule Wonodi (1935-2001)

Love Apart by Christopher Okigbo

Love Apart

The moon has ascended between us,
Between two pines
That bow to each other;
Love with the moon has ascended,
Has fed on our solitary stems;
And we are now shadows
That cling to each other,
But kiss the air only.

Christopher Okigbo

Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was born in 1930. He was a Nigerian poet and he is today widely acknowledged as the outstanding postcolonial English - language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the twentieth century. He died in 1967 while fighting for the independence of Biafra.

Olokun by J. P. Clark

Olokun

I love to pass my fingers
(As tide thro' weeds of the sea
And wind the tall fern-fronds)
Thro' the strands of your hair
Dark as night that screens the naked moon:
I am jealous and passionate
Like Jehovah, God of the Jews,
And I would that you realise
No greater love had woman
From man than the one I have for you!
But what wakeful eyes of man,
Made of the mud of this earth,
Can stare at the touch of sleep
The sable vehicle of dream
Which indeed is the look of your eyes!
So drunken, like ancient walls
We crumble in heaps at your feet;
And as the good maid of the sea,
Full of rich bounties for men,
You lift us all beggars to your breast.

J. P. Clark

John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo was born on 6th April,1935. He is a Nigerian poet and playwright. He has written and published numerous poems and plays, some of his most popular works are Abiku (poetry) and Song of a Goat (a play).