SEQUENCE

Writer, do not change my words, write in English

Marriage is an institution ordained by God, yes

It is holy solemnization, celebrated by men,

A union of soul and body of a couple

That is what they say.

It is to be enjoyed, for procreation too

My marriage is the exact opposite

Several institutions, with a man and plenty women

Unholy and enforced by my parents

United by parents endured by daughters

My uninformed consent does not even count nor sought

I feel so awkward among them; makes me cry night and day

A dirty marriage where I wash dishes daily

Fear of contracting AIDS, the beginning of wisdom,

Jealousy and rage I apply caution

My real mates learn Arithmetic and sex education

Present mates teach me sex copulation

My mates here, my grandma’s playgroup there

Their grandchildren are my mates at the civic centre

Do not belong here but left with an alternative

Learning how to please all, the best alternative

Living to be an instrument of enjoyment for old man

My life, my potentials, my future all in a dowry basket,

Or was it exchanged for a head of cow?

I was traded like a slave to papa

He was even present at my mother’s christening

My playground now is on the smelling mat

He digs into my cloth with hoe like nails.

The question is ready or not, I am here.

Married to a man nearer to the grave than the altar

Wonder at the offence that sentenced me to this agony

I live my life by the day

Plan less, purposeless, reasonless, and futureless

His daily activities are my “periods”

A culture that severed me from my future,

Relieving parents of their responsibility

Can I ever love my children?

To bring forth children when I am equally a child

They are brought forth in sadness and agony

To be trained by others, due to my incapability

I cannot differentiate between umbilical cord and radio cord

Et toi papa, et toi mama

You released me to an unknown future

Very sure of my widowhood before adulthood

Abrupt end to my childhood stage

Enduring sex, enjoying weeping

Secretly awaiting my vesico vagina fistula

Praying daily that night would not come

Dawn brings darkness into my soul

Sentenced to a life of perpetual ignorance

I can neither read nor write

Although I recognize my father in a picture

Peeping, waiting for mate to put my thoughts in letters

I dictate inner feelings could not wait in Dictation class

Looking for a writer at my age to dictate my intents

A child should be a child all over the world.

I was made to jump two steps at a time

You expose me to things I could not comprehend

My duties exchanged for parental responsibilities

Your burden became mine to carry at this tender age.

I know there is a government,

Even if it is a management one

I have a sister now she is twelve years old

Parents are running out of patience

Basket of dowry or head of cow

No breast, no menstruation, no developmental growth

All these and more will meet at the old papa’s house

To be traded for a dowry without her consent

The boys belong to the state during the war

To be recruited against their wish, is it only during the war?

Don’t girls belong to the state?

Management government, put age before marry

Coinage of agemarry is better

Mother suffered this, I am in agony

It is my sister’s turn, let it be agemarry.

YOUR LIGHT MY DARKNESS

I bear this pain alone, the pain of deception

The secrecy is excruciating

To carry a cross that is heavy by perception

The story of my life is infuriating

You were present at my conception

Now, waiting silently for my extinction

My honour gradually desecrated

Due to your lack of self control

You openly profess to cherish

Between you and I, a poison to my soul

How can my honour be reprieved?

When you continue your secret desecration

I cry to sleep, I fear to wake

Your presence a piercing dagger to my heart

The small secret world, a solace to my war

Your utterances venom to my soul

Mother cannot see though very naive

Life is slipping out of the girls hands

Crude and deceptive relative

Sacrificing trust at the altar of urges

A pervert in translucent skin

The revelation about you in little me

Will surely send a saint to sheol

And a transparent soul to recession

Endurance comes to a halt today

Listen to the little secret on air

Read your acts in the dailies

You opened me up, I open up today

The gate opened for you time to eat beans

End of impunity

THE CONTRIBUTION

I was wailing
 No one

Pacified me

When a victim

Rescue mission

Arrived late

During the war

Social workers

Raped Me

As a refugee

My body

Paid for meal

With rebels

My flesh

Paid the price

When

Die

Do not

Donate

A dollar
Donate

Grave

CHARACTERIZATION

There shall be a role call

Your name inscribed on the innocent’ grave

Written in ashes on dead potentials’ resting places

Covered by the uncontrollable burning coal of lust

Your name shall not be written in gold

For you are perpetrators of evil deeds

You force a lad into a canal of life

Compelled him to watch your mirror of indecency

Engagement in lustful exposure

Masterminding kid porno and sexual expose

Your name is sprinkled in ashes

Fall in line on time

You who coerced an underage

Inappropriate brushing, unlawful caressing

Evil deeds done in darkness

All with unsuspecting lasses

You are sentenced to a chance of repentance

Your choice was eternal damnation

The secrecy of the acts

Recorded by invisible cameras

Relayed with unseen projectors

Your acts were transmitted live

By the defender of the defenceless

Why the victims start while the acts end

For torturing a pure soul and conscience

Raping them in the presence of unsuspecting parents

Harvesting thorns and thistles

Offenders in uniform tagged defenders

Secretly and threaten, destroying the defenceless

You have your rewards

Thus goes the first judgment

For defecating in the holy sanctuaries

Opening fire on budding potentials

Splashing blood on emerging stars

You are turned to perpetual ash

Your time up be prepared, first be unkitted

The hypocritical aid workers

Spreading AIDS like wildfire

Exchanging contributed aids with rape

Clouds can no longer cover thy acts

You are already turned to ashes

The lass is weeping, the lad is sobbing

Continuously you wallow in shows

Shows of hero, shows of power, show of shame

Exploration of energy on boneless creatures

Stand for all viewers to record your face

The deed is open, the cloud is gone

Your mother is here present

Continue in her presence, nurture meets nature

The world is watching continue in your act

My lord awaits your demonstrations

Your prowess with acts of threats

Watched by that judge, viewed by the conscience

Your threats before the deeds

Your gifts at the vow for revelation

All placed at the majesty’s feet

As we unravel the unsavoury deeds

This is my lordship’s verdict

Every child shall flee at your appearance

Your death a colossal waste

Your living; a perpetual reminder

Henceforth your conscience is withdrawn

For it shall continually work against your stands

And your peace of mind substituted with fear

While your goal shall be to be upright

Your heart shall undergo continuous racing

Women shall escape like slippery okra from your hand

Innocence shall elude you

Till you repent genuinely in sackcloth

Tearfully, genuinely in true conviction

Undoubtedly in heavenly ashes: Court Arise!

BECKON

Raped, battered and bitter

Feelings is of rejection and humiliation

They say it is ----------- disorder

I feel dirty, used and spent

Nobody to turn to except me

There are choices for me

To live or to die, that is the question

To die and not to relive those moments

Agonizing, traumatizing and killing

Living in my lonely and empty world

Nightmares the ruler of my new life

The rapist left a message

You demanded for it!

I was sentenced before the judgment day

Why me? Why me? Why me?

Do I have the right to be me?

Do I have the right of choice?

Can I choose who to or not to touch me?

Can I have a fair hearing?

Who do I turn to?

Where did I go wrong?

Who do I offend?

Who can I talk to?

Where do I go from here?

Respond to the voice of my cry?

No answers to thousands of questions

Questions, questions begging for answers

My big secret is driving me crazy

My attacker is now a freeman

A rapist let loose

How can you empathize with me?

When all you do is ask questions again

How did he do it? Where did he do it?

Reliving my nightmares in sentences

Or is it the open up and let me see?

And you called out, my dear come

Neither your fault nor your making

She stretched the hand of love

I grabbed it in pain but relief came

She pulled me out of the mud

Laying my head on her shoulder

Receiving love,Solace and relief

A needed succour in time of agony

My proceeds of healing and cleansing

A chance to live my life to the fullest

She says, this problem must not linger

Normal to feel ashamed and embarrassed

Now better to talk my way into my healing

I got the power to move on

Life is a gift, I must never loose it.

Talking about it now is soothing to my soul

The idea refreshed my body now

The support catapulted me, I came out better

I felt trauma syndrome and move on

Believing that, yes life is a precious gift.

NO ONE ELSE

Today I am in the room again

My daddy is doing it again

I begged again and again

But he showed me the gains

My mother is innocently knitting

My brothers in the dining

And I, am hitting

Hitting the bed

This is my story

An adult before being a girl

Raped and reaped by daddy

Mummy always engrossed in her knitting

Daddy says “it is my duty”

To ravage my little body

I must not reveal our little secret

Because the god’s will kill me

Who will believe my story?

Father and daughter, who helps?

Sleepless nights and fearful days

And I call you my father!

I came to this world before my time

Who do I tell it was daddy?

My friends say it is incest

I dare not say I am the victim

Everybody says it is an abomination

My daddy believes it is divination

I want to believe that it is my imagination

I will soon awake to the realization

I want to reveal my little secret

Will you believe me?

Will you save me from my daddy?

I want to escape from my daddy

Speak out little darling, help is near

Keep no such secret

We will follow you all the way

Your healing has come

Daddy in his daughter is a taboo

Come out of incest, God loves you

The apple of His eyes

Why will he then kill you?

Daddy needs the healing process

He is sick, keeping mute will kill him

Help yourself come out clean and refreshed

You are not alone

We are here with you

Help is not far away

Stretch the hand, we are always near

We will grab you, you are not alone.