Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
I hope you've heard my love hiding inside the melody that Donny Hathaway plays
From every poetic note folded amongst the ivory keys plucked
This heart writes light like butterfly wings fluttering in flight
But it's heavy when I barely see you
So, my vision grows old like my wishes of us
Weakened only by fleeting time
Yet. lengthened
Like desires that chain-link hopes to the wildest dreams along far streams
You could say I'm always in your hair
Wherever the strands flow, I follow its fibers feverishly
Strung along by song of nature so strong, that
I'm in a Pinocchio-state, made to move by your voice
A puppet parroting psalms to praise your personage
In the richness of your favor
In the hour of knowing
It's been a minute
And time is indeed money
Every second counts when I'm around your golden smile
I wish I could play this track forever
Or rewire my brain to rehearse every one of your favorite verses
Be the B-side of your cassette
And rewind to the best moments
Unwind together.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
I fell short of matching all of the stars in space with the raindrops that made its way to Earth
Instead, I matched the stars in your eyes with the old pain's last breath and otherworldly love's first
The clouds have opened back up for business, booming thunder and zooming lightning
Somewhere there, the flash of your smile
The beat of your heart
The coolness of your waters that quench my thirst for you

It's natural to look at nature au naturale
Like Italians and Nigerians talking with hands as expressive as Deaf lovers relay romantic verses
Clear, nimble fingers that massage my soul within the cumulonimbus and nimbostratus
Fueling, flooding, fostering the gods' apparatus


You
The final form of unfinished paintings
Give birth to worthwhile wishful thinking
On my mind like taxes and teacher's lesson plans
A soft brush adjusting to the sky's new hues kissed like ones we've missed or knew
A masterpiece in pieces of Vishnu's vision for when he returns to look for Lakshmi
Hopefully time will not be Shiva to end this for me

How does it feel to be adored by Indra, when showers descend and drench the deepest ditches to force creation of drawbridges for those dire to cross your path again?

- Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
There is no forgetting.
Maybe it's the obsidian spirit within that wishes to be in her axis spin
A topsy-turvy tango on the turnpike
My heart tries keeping pace
Embarrassment of riches, her smile never saves face
I'm spoiled to witness a heavenly Rorschach test walking
Olympic views sparkling on high
A natural one
Holy smokes
I've seen the evergreens blush red
When she brushstrokes
Her paintbrush-lush hair amidst the background of the Puget Sound
So refreshing
Trapped in her net
Outside the network of jerks
Fishing for lust
Refresh the pages
Reload the look of ages
My type of hype
She's keying in on my keen instincts
Putting wings on my desires
So heights can be admired
So fright can be delayed
In flight, I've fallen.


- Ifeanyi Okoro II
As fireworks litter the dancefloor of our atmosphere
One can only hope that we remember
Who really ignites our passions
Continues our flames
Sets off sparks in our hearts
And takes care of the scattered remains
You are my independence from the hold of avoiding interdependence
I'll forever light a Roman Candle to wish for romantic thoughts up a star
Explosive, you are.



Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
Not big on July 4th. Very big on explosiveness.
(For A.K.)

With her aesthetic psalms carved in this skin of mine
Readily healed with the balm she speaks
I gather courage to fight back my wanting desire
To see her again
When she leaves
I reopen the wounds
To revive pleasurable painful memories
Of her sharp beauty
Cutting deep.
Laughter, tearing through me like
Confetti on her personal new year
Her dancing is confection
Her smile, even sweeter
She doesn't age, she turn the page.
I can no longer conceal or restrict my praise
After all, it is her I worship on her holiday.
-
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
Post slumber
Nothing changes when I reopen my eyes
Your smile and gait
Same puzzle piece reverie coming together
Like coarse bark and smooth leaves of walnut trees
Or your articulation and my weak knees.
Even when the road ceases
Let my affection not be a sojourn of the mind
But an embraced destination, instead.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
When?
Pt. 2
The country is in  limbo
While the rulers stand with hands akimbo
And many citizens are confused like bingo.

There's need for we citizens to make hay
Now it's day
So we can have a say
And live not in dismay.

Today, in our nation
It seems corruption
Is now the option.

We must take an action
To stop this stagnation
From messing up our civilization.

Can someone lead us in a direction
that can get our nation
Out of this cloudy confusion?

From my observation
Many are in frustration
And have taken the situation
As their final conclusion.

I make a confession
That I see a counter motion
That will shatter the ugly configuration
And lead us into positive progression
In this nation

Can you do same visualization
And make positive confession
So that with inspiration, aspiration and perspiration
We redeem the image and glory of this nation?

© Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
Nigeria can only be better if Nigerians are serious about it.
To touch your lips before dawn stretches across our skin
Similar to The Creation of Adam

On the eve of your departure

Where whimsical scripts meet sacrosanct words
Wrapping themselves around your tongue
And ripple like kaftans when sung

We hold these truths to be self-evident
And your vision is honest

I refuse suffering your absence amongst the hunger I feel
Cooking up a plan to capture your heart
A pinch of your perspiration's salt
The kiwi sweetness in your sway

Even if you appear in my dreams, although miles away
It's the best homecoming yet.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
Ifeanyi May 2017
Aggressive buzz of an alarm,
a new day is born.

Gentle touch of the morning breeze,
sending cold shivers up my spine.

Numb timid darkness, entangling with the golden rays of the sun.

And with such inharmonious beauty
comes a friend unfriendly – Time.


 My feeble bones arise, exhausted from its daily struggles.

An occupied mind strives for sanity, away from its daily bustle.

Clothes creatively decorated with patterns of odorous sweat.

My heart ladened with  problems and i'm not married yet.



A memory ******, nonchalant of such sacred hour.

A project overdue and an angry boss comes to limelight.

The walls reverberated with the sound of a sigh
and the words "na wa".

Amidst this chaotic subconscious,

more time

– is my only plight.


The End.

© 2015 - Ifeanyi.
"Na wa",
Also means "what the ****", in some places :)
Midnight.

Getting into incredible scenes as the southern US dreams
The color of your soul
Where unshackled, dancing spirits take control
Feet contact to terra firma via tactical movements painting its target
You attack, artistically
I resist no longer
Upon your canvas
I fall

Rome

Where (apparently) all roads lead to
Your heart, the coronary Colosseum.
A stronghold I yearn to hold tight
Under the roar of the crowd
And the loudness of your beats

Harmony

There are psalms that Cadillacs crank
Your viscous soul
At the seat of this purple drank think tank
Sticking to my ribs like backyard barbecue
Santoor mallets tapping my heartstrings
Doing 10 in a 65, side-to-side
Front, back
Letting the melodies ride and glide

Air

Whatever words you'd utter, I'd usurp its presence within the second it leaves your lips.
Floating on cloud 9
To catch your breath with my fingertips
Kinda like I want our lungs to be in a relationship
Or something close to enjoying the heights

Then record our previous accords just before
Midnight.



Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
Finished around 4:47 a.m.
How fertile your smile
How futile my defenses
It gave birth to peaceful, dead silence
In a universe of animated cacophony and stubbornness
As we track the movement of the stars
Gliding across terra firma, fervently
When flesh of the palms ascend to join
No lie survives
Once both hearts have submerged
Into
In two places
Between desire and the depth of the Caspian.

In between twin flame frames
Where our passionate, intimate orations' tempests
Stir our souls' embers to rising temperatures
Tempting a Titan high to fight the Gods.

I pray to the four corners of this domain
That if I can't hold on to forever
That you'd consider changing your name to "This Moment".
With permission, I'd gladly embrace your present presence.
-
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
This winter night
What fell from the sky
Landed on my cheek
Cooled me
Gave me chills in my soul
Wasn't your lips
Unfortunately not your soothing words

And just like that, it melted
As did other snowflakes that made their descent
And I hated this Valentine's Day
For not letting me freeze
In your presence.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro  © 2.14.21
Where's my Valentine?
I'll be waiting
For those raging-fire smiles
To sear into my heart
And brand it with your desire

When the time comes
I will surrender everything
And want for nothing
Except for each word you whisper
To topple my castle
And your daring lips
To claim control of my own throne
As you speak

For I am lost in the darkness of your hair
The rivers of laughter
Typhoons of your waist
The legacy within your grasp
Long and familiar

This, I acknowledge
Under the epidermis of nightfall
Where blood departs from within my crown
Deposits in the veins of my hands
That glean your vessel like a cherished charm
Hoping to continue connecting like
Sinews and bone
Or
Roads to Rome's ruins

I am dizzy, but stand in assurance
And the soul is ready
To navigate the universe in your eyes.
I'll remain starstruck
Even when you're afar
Dazzling me more everyday.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro © 2018
As the world turns carousel-style
This smile you've left me caused my dizzy spell
I've tried to smear it on my shirt
So it would become impossible to get out
Mess up my whites
Stain through to my soul
Make my half wants whole

What I loved about our movements together
Was the fact that our bodies knew the rhythm
Before the track played
As the lights splayed onto your shoulders
Cheeks aflame
Air
Thick like your locks 35 minutes past 5 o'clock
Tumbling, similar to my weakening defenses
At that moment, it wasn't even Capoeira
But how could one protect their face
From such striking beauty?

Persian pearls penetrating my mind
Your eyes fight fires and ignite desire
That night, I would've been just fine
Dying on sight
Trying to hold a dancing dream at midnight.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2.6.18
When springtime arrives
There's the intro of the Earth in a refreshing light.
Dew and sunshine,
Love (and many other tests like it),
Birth and rebirth,
And the blooms.
Amongst all this, I hope to see your smile
Soon.

.
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
Don't you just love spring and the hope it brings?
Remembering nights when feet talked to asphalt
Making the way to nowhere fast
Just daydreaming in the time of tribulation
Even that seems against the law

But this is the season of desires
Wishing for the sun to catch up to the moon
Or for blazing June to date breezy December
Her presence
Hotter than July
So Stevie Wonderful
That vision fails to relay perfect captions of captured view

And heart rapidly repeats beats like winged mockingbirds do

And voice drops sonata when cantata is through

I realize I'm flirting with danger when thinking of you
If you are the heavenly hazard,
Just who am I casting my flirt to?

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
Pt. 1
The last day of the year, and I paid a visit to show my respects
To attempt to humble my flesh
To give my reflection of a failed man
I
Who designated days of joy saved up from past jobs/relationships
Felt the lightning crash into my soul
Thinking it took the weird from one to half my whole self
I came to the plot
Twisting rose petals into my palm
And sprinkling them at her feet
Asking for forgiveness in a futile plea
I needed someone to speak to, and in this case
Spirits only speak to those who don't come forth weak with intentions
Renditions of "Wash Me" running through my mind
In all white, I delivered a bouquet
A brief say
A respite from desperation, my soul hath claimed
Prayed for her rest, her family's best, and a ceasing of my shameful pain
Hell, at one point, I thought I messed up her name.
Not even nervousness
Just urgently purging in the place where "my mama" 'nem stay
Pennies in her best number
A purple candle and rattle to battle back bad energies
The wind was so telling, that I couldn't even catch my breath
Running from reality
I asked for clarity in love through death.


Ifeanyi N Okoro II © 1/2/2024
Rest in peace.  Forgive me.  What do I do now?
Taste
From whence your honey cometh

A slow flow

Sticky situation sensational to our senses
Since

Lips got close enough to read past prayers
On the vapor trails venting from our
Vocal cords

This transcends sweetness
The rocks that bare your amber nectar
When cracked upon connection
In the land we both desire to lay our heads
Wade and cross rivers like Oyono
Make maps of heaven upon your spine
With sublime digits

The bees will clamor and tea will feel lonely without.

-
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
Opening blinds to peer
Wondering how hard
Night fell and spelled out these stars
Those that don't know any better than
To copy your eyes
Just a spark in the dark galaxy

Sometimes I shoot the breeze
Hoping an officer's bullet won't hold me to
A permanent freeze
In the hour of despair
Where I haven't had a chance to clutch your soul
You have me under cardiac arrest
My heart in your possession
That gives us, at least, 5-to-10, mandatory

A fresh dew on the blades
Your hue next to my flesh
Springtime singing to us
As if we were growing on each other
Rose of Jericho when you revive my heart
From its tomb
From whence many nations came via your womb
A rose arose, aroused by the sun

You are the unread poem to an audience that craves the orator's tongue
A gift of gab to drab and dour arenas
I recite of you to hear my own self speak
To drug myself of nothings that ring so sweet.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
I am a son,
Like the sun
Wired to bring illumination
To this nation.

To many lives I give light,
Challenging folks to live right
Inspiring them in this life to make hay
In other to have a say.

I am gifted
Not born to be limited.
I trump limits
And climb to success summits.

You are wired for greatness
Break out from shallowness
For you have what it takes
To kick out the fakes
And be among the greats.

Life is colorful
When we do things powerful;
Let us arise and grow
To make our dreams reality and glow.

© Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha is a transformational leader and writer who uses his time, talent and treasure to uproot vices and root values in the society.
You are greater than you think.
Be the horns when you blow poetry into my ears
So I may dance
Or snap my fingers in accolades

The imagination
Writing you into my pages
Hoping the words would jump out at me
And hold me after the first stanzas

Piano keys
Press my soul
Hear the tuning
Tighten my heart strings

On stage
You perform
I surrender as your audience.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
What if I told you
The skin you're in
At this moment
Is the only reason
This Earth
Hasn't collapsed into a
Cold
Fetal position?

What fire have we started
Searing your sweet scent brands my nostrils
I pray
You stay burned into my retinas
Sweating
I thirst for your abrazo calído.

The heat that rises
The corners of your smile
A balance I desire
To melt me
When I am frozen in your presence.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II @ © 2018
It's raining here. You're still fire.
Find yourself getting lost in my arms.
Lose yourself as you find my heart wanting.

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II - © 2018
With this rain
I thee wed
Wet with aspirations
Downpour so thick upon the earth
It gives birth to creative hearts
Cutting and pasting promises broken in slips once notes passed in class
Now we prostrate
Gazing at glass dimensions
Daydreaming into moistened, nighttime-hued skies
Minutes from dusk
Consuming droplets like office coffee
Casually unfurling our tongues to catch a drip
Hoping to taste what it was like to be cooled down from old flames

This moonlight be the ring
Placed on the lace around your neck
Because your fingers don't need full metal jackets
With rocks like tax brackets
Besides, you're busy tracing our names encased in a heart in the stars
When the night crashes, and Venus visits Mars

But what does a wistful wanderer know?
Even as you depart
I'm trying to contain remnants of the zephyrs of your breath in mason jars like fireflies
As you call down for scattered heavy showers to follow your tempest trail left
Bathing in the heat of the night
Where there's trouble, wall-to-wall
Like Southern Mississippi or
Southeast Asia
Melodies of a river's croon or monsoon's boom, seasonally sweeping
Soaking my head
All of my worries are dead

I walk to your altar
In awe of your flora in the field of beauty
Amongst the springtime shadow of space
And swollen clouds
Receiving
Opening the heavens to sprinkle this bouquet

My poem, the precipitation
You request, I quench.
-
Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2018
Ifeanyi May 2017
Blinding flashes
and sound of clicks.
The photographer's toy
records our joy.
The beach air filled
with laughs, smiles and kiss.
And friends long lost
Were found once more.


Popped cans of beer,
and loud echoes of "cheers",
"Let's build a fire!",
were all that we yelled.
few piles of sticks,
a bonfire was built.
Like kids, we danced around,
as the fading sun went down.


We gazed in awe,
and exploded with laughter.
As we told tales of mischief,
triumphs and disasters.
The fire soared higher,
bringing life to the Night,
and its menacing flames,  
reflected grudgingly in our eyes.


Not so far off
from where we were: reminiscing,
Some palm trees swayed
in elegance: dancing,
to the melody  
of a howling midnight wind.
And the moon lit the stage
with its silver rays.


We strolled by the coast,
wading through the sands,
love smitten, Nemerem and i,
hand in hand.
We sat and we stared,
as the ocean breathed,
and in such serenity,
our worries were blurred.


I stole a quick kiss
on her youthful lips.
She was shy at first
then responded quick.
We moaned and we gasped
and off went our clothes
drifting to bliss
beneath a radiant sky,
while the glimmering stars watched.



Her hair lit like gold,
while the morning sun rose.
As dusk gave away,
we both smiled, awake.

Forever in euphoria
was all that we wished.

but the truth reared its head,
an enemy to our wish.

For our

Holiday retreat ends,
and a journey home awaits.
Some Long open roads
and deceptious gates.

Our

Holiday retreat ends,
a journey home awaits.
Long open roads and
unwelcoming gates.

The end.

© 2015 - Ifeanyi.
There were stars in the gaseous garden
Not your everyday botanical brilliance boasting beauty
Just a set of eyes like fauna
Wandering and wondering
Growing fond of the fragrance of flora
Foreign ideas to think they wouldn't devour them

On Nimbus nights
I, a wayward raindrop from the clouds of descending souls, wish to be sweet to the tongue I plunge to
Like water for hot cocoa
One brings to a boiling roll
What can simmer this will in the hot seats like pots be
On burners

We all burn for attention
And, in another dimension,
We quench the thirst of both flora and fauna
Sacrificing for beauty and beasts
As rain would maintain peace on unearthed surfaces on fire

Maybe this outspoken raindrop is really a seed, planting and plotting to promote growth in spirits
The trickle down on panes when hearts don't quite hear it
Or eyes overlook
Or when roses won't rise
Maybe those stars will guide?

Maybe fauna don't really realize its worth is reciprocal
Why poems put pride in places so pitiful
That its readers are forced to intervene

Maybe raindrops trapped on door screens are living their dream

The garden twinkles and shimmers, moves and remains
This sky so black
Its fruit so trained
Even as it dips, tightens its belt, and occasionally falls
It's answering wishes from wistful droplets
Like myself.

And, like these gaseous gems...
Sometimes we fall for certain beings we feel are just as celestial.


Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2021
Rain. Heartbeat.
Open the heavens and send down the rain
I want to taste you again
The decadent dreams and palatable Proverbs
Your voice rings truer than Solomon’s Songs
An inscription of your heart’s psalms burn onto palms
I want to embrace your change
From cool lateral attitudes of a sabbatical frame
Or the temper aflame via fire-tempered steel from whence it came
Those eyes buried and carried luster of a pharaoh’s tomb exhumed
Laughter and sighs prying open my covenant to not be lured in by these such riches
I sacrifice sleep daily to alter my altar for you
Yes,
There is a such thing as God in the form of your skin
I send praises in kisses
Hoping not to betray your inhibitions
No Judas Iscariot
But I lay before your garden
Gethsemane, gently I speak in tongues
For I hope not yet to be crucified in your love
Before resurrecting ***** before your sunrise
Amen

Ifeanyi N. Okoro II © 2015

— The End —