⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️

Red was the color of the water
when I jumped into a river
that was too shallow for me to dive into.

In those short 5 seconds,
I soared through the winds.
The air pressure nearly enough to rip me to shreds.

Those 5 seconds when my skin peeled off from my back,
I grew wings.

They lit on fire,
and I burned with them,
and it was almost soothing.

The pain was a reminder that
I was alive,
even if it was only for 5 short seconds.

In the brink of death,
I felt the most alive I had in years.

I don't know if it was the wind
or the fact that I was burning.
But in those five seconds,
I was a human.
Something I had been alienated from my whole life.

I was dead before I hit the gravel.
My body twisted in all types of different directions,
and when the police found me,
they had already pronounced me as deceased.

Do not rewrite the past.
No hand can erase
what time has carved
in wounded skin.

Let your oldest notebook
inscribe the first line
of a new tale —
written in fresh tears
and the sweat
of becoming
a future still unfolding.

We split rock once—
shards of hunger and breath
pressed into cryptic veins,
every groove a fever-etched omen
by fists that blistered and bled.

We flayed parchment—
flax and hide peeled raw,
stretched across centuries
to net the writhing unsaid,
ink: venom & sacrament.

We conjured letters,
a thousand spitting iron serpents,
casting skeleton alphabets
to ignite riots—
movable, yes,
but never self-possessed.

The tool is never the delirium.
Never the rupture.
Never the feral gasp.

We carved eyes—
glass cyclopes staring down suns,
mechanical maws drinking shadows,
spitting back sleek carcasses,
veneer masquerading as soul.

We dreamt in circuits,
cipher-prayers & soulless sutras,
automata with twitching limbs
that build, disassemble,
mocking the cathedral
but never kneeling.

And now—
the algorithm howls:
“I will etch your myth.
I will ululate your grief.
I will sculpt the marrow of your truth.”

It lies.

A hammer pounds—
but does not conjure the cathedral’s ache.
A brush bristles—
but does not thirst for the canvas’s hush.
A neural grimoire can mimic,
can multiply until the world chokes
on infinite carbon copies—
but nothing blooms
without the sickness of being alive.

Art is incision.
A holy theft.
A blood rite against oblivion.

We do not tremble before tools.
We seize them—
splinter them—
forge new weapons
from their debris
because we are insatiable,
because we are drowning,
because we are—
human.

Let the hollow vessels hum.
Let the scaffolders scaffold.
Let the parrots shriek
their pallid mantras.

The craft will not save you.
The code will not save you.
Only the hand sunk deep into the blaze—
only the breath fogging the glass—
only the voice that shreds the quiet
because it must,
again and again and again.

Until there is nothing left.

Love is fleeting;
not promised,
nor permanent.
But if you look for it--
you'll see,
always Present.

You were drawn to my shine,
To the light in my steps, my aura, my time.
You walked beside me all the while,
Curious-why do I smile?

I spoke of joy, of a heart that glows,
Of peace within, the love I know.
But you had none, you’d lost your spark,
And sought to ***** out all my dark.

You didn’t want to see me grow
You only came to steal my glow.

i dugg a hole really deep 1 then i blew it upp boom !!!!!!!!everything wwent  to hell

A soul so sad
A lonely feather falls
The sea begins to calm
I wipe my tears
The mask slips on
Don’t let them see me cry

I never walk alone
Son of my father
Blood of my ancestors
Careful as cat
Silent as snake
Brave as honey badger
Strong as polar bear

Blood of my ancestors
Son of my father
I never walk alone

(c) Nwafor Oji Awala
Ogale
2025

Not by the mean faces
I see everyday ,
who smile
with a mask on.

Not by the harsh voices
I hear everyday,
that always
pull me down.

But by the unseen faces,
by their unheard voices,
only their words-
the wisdom within...

I am inspired.

Wondrous miracle
Golden shards weave through green arms
Lost by tiny screens

I wrestle with the stars
Crushed diamond under my hand

In my Jungle Lion is not a king

Famous people are my community
They adored me
But

That’s all imaginary
Imaginary community

Feeling loved via Fantasy
While reality bites me
While self-hate surrounds me
Ill embraced this immortal

Fantasy

It’s that moment of dread,
where everything gets intense,
where I only see red.
Where I only see red.

The anger comes bursting out,
like an animal on the prowl,
It’s digging it’s teeth in now.

It’s that moment of doubt,
where these vicious thoughts of mine,
are closing in on my mind.

Everything goes red.
These vultures are picking off what’s left.
I remember every bad thing that was said.
God sometimes I wish I was dead.

And now? Who knows…

L'inimitié que je te porte,
Passe celle, tant elle est forte,
Des aigneaux et des loups,
Vieille sorcîere deshontée,
Que les bourreaux ont fouëttée
Te honnissant de coups.

Tirant apres toy une presse
D'hommes et de femmes espesse,
Tu monstrois nud le flanc,
Et monstrois nud parmy la rue
L'estomac, et l'espaule nue
Rougissante de sang.

Mais la peine fut bien petite,
Si Ion balance ton merite :
Le Ciel ne devoit pas
Pardonner à si lasche *****,
Ains il devoit de sa tempeste
L'acravanter à bas.

La Terre mere encor pleurante
Des Geans la mort violante
Bruslez du feu des cieux,
(Te laschant de son ventre à peine)
T'engendra, vieille, pour la haine
Qu'elle portait aux Dieux.

Tu sçais que vaut mixtionnée
La drogue qui nous est donnée
Des pays chaleureux,
Et en quel mois, en quelles heures
Les fleurs des femmes sont meilleures
Au breuvage amoureux.

Nulle herbe, soit elle aux montagnes,
Ou soit venimeuse aux campagnes,
Tes yeux sorciers ne fuit,
Que tu as mille fois coupée
D'une serpe d'airain courbée,
Beant contre la nuit.

Le soir, quand la Lune fouëtte
Ses chevaux par la nuict muette,
Pleine de rage, alors
Voilant ta furieuse *****
De la peau d'une estrange beste
Tu t'eslances dehors.

Au seul soufler de son haleine
Les chiens effroyez par la plaine
Aguisent leurs abois :
Les fleuves contremont reculent,
Les loups effroyablement hurlent
Apres toy par les bois.

Adonc par les lieux solitaires,
Et par l'horreur des cimetaires
Où tu hantes le plus,
Au son des vers que tu murmures
Les corps des morts tu des-emmures
De leurs tombeaux reclus.

Vestant de l'un l'image vaine
Tu viens effroyer d'une peine
(Rebarbotant un sort)
Quelque veufve qui se tourmente,
Ou quelque mere qui lamente
Son seul heritier mort.

Tu fais que la Lune enchantée
Marche par l'air toute argentée,
Luy dardant d'icy bas
Telle couleur aux jouës palles,
Que le son de mille cymbales
Ne divertirait pas.

Tu es la frayeur du village :
Chacun craignant ton sorcelage
Te ferme sa maison,
Tremblant de peur que tu ne taches
Ses boeufs, ses moutons et ses vaches
Du just de ta poison.

J'ay veu souvent ton oeil senestre,
Trois fois regardant de **** paistre
La guide du troupeau,
L'ensorceler de telle sorte,
Que tost apres je la vy morte
Et les vers sur la peau.

Comme toy, Medée exécrable
Fut bien quelquefois profitable :
Ses venins ont servy,
Reverdissant d'Eson l'escorce :
Au contraire, tu m'as par force
Mon beau printemps ravy.

Dieux ! si là-haut pitié demeure,
Pour récompense qu'elle meure,
Et ses os diffamez
Privez d'honneur de sépulture,
Soient des oiseaux goulus pasture,
Et des chiens affamez.

Behold the Square King
From the Kingdom of Ninety Degrees
You’ll find right angles on everything
And perfect symmetry is there to please

Here, the rule is the straight line,
The fastest way from a point to another
Curving is a heinous crime
Make a round turn and you’re over

Come to this righteous land,
So rectangular and fair
Hail, King Square!

Today I got a hug, out of the blue                                                             ­     
                                                           ­                                                               
and it even came with an "I love you''                                                            ­    
                                                            ­                                                        
Such a simple kind gesture                                                          ­                                                  
              ­                                                                 ­                               
  It brought me such pleasure                                                         ­                     
                                                                ­                                                          
It picked me up when I felt down                                                             ­                       
                                         ­                                                                 ­      
  turned my day totally around                                                           ­                 
                                                                ­                                                  
  Just when I thought no one cared                                                            ­            
                                                                ­                                        
someone loved me, someone shared

God knows what He is doing
even if Donald does not

Too many troubles
Seeing no way out
Spinning spinning
No more rules to flout.
All the traffic lights
Are stuck on red
The only option
Is to wind up dead.
Too many troubles
Dead ends are rife
Stuck on a merry go round
All darkness in life.
Your breath is shallow
Your eyes so red
The only way out
Is a bullet to the head.
Look my friend
If it’s life you dread
Yes it’s a good call to
Shoot yourself in the head.
Too many troubles
No food for the feast
All but sad so rest in peace.

Sea-
So near,untouched
Yet I feel
Your cold.

Your jagged surface,
A blackened sapphire-blue.
Snow peaks drift like islands
in your remote expanse.

Sea,I am not your lover.
But I gaze at you
With the same eyes.

A tender touch, a whispered sigh,
A sudden storm, a tearful cry.
A heart laid bare, a soul exposed
to the wounds inflicted.

The pain endures, a heavy load,
Where love once bloomed, hoping shadows wont grow.

There is no magic potion
Or Spell or Hex required
No Doctrine 
Or Approbation
Or Degree to be acquired
There is no formula or recipe
Modus Operandi 
Ritual or Rite
No red tape 
No routine
No code words to recite
You can bring your baggage 
Or leave it
Or I can help you to retrieve it
And unpack it
Or unload it
Me of mine
You’ll help relieve it

It’s just love Baby…

It’s not so hard to do
Just to me bring 
The very thing
That I convey to you

Just love me Baby…

It’s not so hard to do
Just to me bring 
The very thing
That I convey to you

Desperation leaks from my words
As I beg the universe for life
Happiness
And you

Looking around the
Giant room full of people
Not a friend in sight

Being in the mind?
Feeling behind.

Just going beyond!
Feeling cried.

Time! Time!
Couldn't you give me enough time?
Time to atone for my mistakes,
Time! Time! Time! Time!
Just one more time?

You shared your mind in poetry,
Sang your heart out unconditionally.
You kept smiling through the pain.
I want to be at fault.
I want to say I'm sorry.

I know the time had come.
I wouldn't have stopped you even if I tried.
Maybe if I dared to follow,
For the very first time you would scold me.
But I could be by your side forever.

You shared your mind in poetry,
Warmed weary hearts with your voice.
You smiled the pain away.
You were My Mr Perfect,
And now you sing melodies with angels.

All I ever wanted was you.
In a bubble of frozen time.

It’s not happening as you expected? So what? How do you know that what you wanted to happen was for the best?
Embrace the challenges. Embrace the unexpected. That way, you’re unstoppable.