#unemployment
Nasci pensador,
Nasci sonhador.
Quando era pequeno,
Costumavam colocar-me na varanda.
Sentado na minha cadeirinha,
Eu observava a rua poeirenta e seca.
Via passar mulheres sorridentes do mercado,
E homens desempregados com ares vistosos.
A rua era o ecrã da minha televisão.
Os pássaros, os cavalos e os transeuntes,
Voavam e trotavam como atores refinados,
E como artistas de verdadeiro valor.
A minha cidade era pitoresca — minúscula, porém intrigante;
E, no entanto, a vida ali era bela, simples e languida.
Comparada com a capital,
As coisas não estavam nada mal,
Uma vez que todos conheciam a todos.
O mar não ficava muito longe,
E o Paraíso — por mais luminoso, pesado e lento
Que fosse —parecia quase distante.
Nasci pensador,
Nasci sonhador.
Após tantos anos de leitura e humildade,
Tornei-me poeta e homem de letras.
Pequenas anedotas, ou minicontos existem por todo o lado,
Sob um céu intrincado, escuro, nublado, triste e turvo.
Copyright © Abril 2026 Hébert Logerie. Todos os direitos reservados.
Hébert Logerie é autor de várias coletâneas de poesia.
Apr 23
Apr 23, 2026 at 11:53 AM UTC
A society, liberticidal,
liberate our bitterness,
A joy of life in tatters,
shattered on the pavement;
Jobs that don’t exist,
and then they call us people
with Peter Pan syndrome;
Union struggles,
a symptom of management,
the very same social cancer;
Mar 23
Mar 23, 2026 at 2:25 PM UTC
Six, black horizontal lines couldn’t grasp the rise of
Irritation, a bothersome reminder the godliness in
Being clean but has no mercy with the maintenance
From a procedure and labor to erase such dirt
‘Tis the cheapest offer in a packed market, a gift
Perhaps to prove the eagerness and thoughtfulness
In a time of festivity only for the self’s eye for beauty
That she must own someday a rhetoric value of identity
A comical error of a promising future has been invested
Eight or more years ago with no regard to failure
The cause is ever painful for the rush of success is
Only confined in a controlled environment with a proctor
There is a division between inquiry and obedience
One could offend but the other clings to righteousness
Since the mandated law of the holy and the state
Spare time and capital of excellence and satisfaction
No maid to oblige and sweep for any specks and lapses
What an unfavorable situation to be useless!
An increasing pace can only **** the ambitiousness
Within the child that young to fulfill such prophecy
No prospects, no entanglement, no cage to mourn for
A young woman meets a pressure stronger than the storm
Whereas the notification that moves mountains and oceans
Why can’t you stay in one job?
Mar 2
Mar 2, 2026 at 9:02 AM UTC
I'm sick and ******* tired
of scraping my pride
down to the bone,
asking for helping,
and hearing nothing.
my life has fallen apart
in three months
after years of beating back
against my tears and indecision.
those that want to, can't.
those that can don't want to.
the fire in my throat isn't half
as searing as the hatred i feel
for the South African tech genius,
searching for waste,
and the ones that failed us.
i carry this molten stress in me,
and i want the worst to happen
to those living their lives everyday
without worry about rent
or food or their car's
impending repossession.
this isn't even a poem anymore,
it's a cry for help.
May 31, 2025
May 31, 2025 at 1:52 AM UTC
handplucked, stared at, silence.
examined front-to-back, indifferent,
and dropped in a cylindrical hell
unlike any other you'd ever know.
subject, object, experiment.
a constant mire of hate, sin,
fear, death, lust. hate.
anything and everything adjacent
to violet highlights in calming sunsets,
a love for what can be despite what is.
inked by the growing bead in your chest
that pulsates when you dream of better,
more, the minimum. pure existence.
the bliss of firing off one round
of expression that might shift the world
and free you.
something you can't know
while others hold the jar and shake you.
May 24, 2025
May 24, 2025 at 11:21 PM UTC
In a room where books pile high,
Echoes of dreams refuse to die.
A restless mind, a weary soul,
At twenty-four, still chasing a goal.
Through the window, the world spins fast,
A blur of futures, a ghost of past.
The sun dips low, the sky turns red,
Yet here I sit, lost in my head.
Lines of code and circuits bright,
Mock me softly in the dimming light.
A degree framed, but dust collects,
On promises life won’t protect.
I reach for a cigarette, pause mid-air,
What would it change? Who would care?
The smoke might dance, the ember glow,
But answers? No, they never show.
Dreams cost time, and time runs thin,
A battle fought but hard to win.
Yet somewhere deep, a spark remains,
A quiet fire, defying chains.
So I let the match slip from my hand,
Breathe in deep, and make a stand.
Not today, I tell the night—
Not today, I'll lose this fight.
Feb 28, 2025
Feb 28, 2025 at 1:32 AM UTC
The slow inexorable press of time
The unrelenting caress of passing days
Grinds and grinds away at my soul
Everyday, every hour and every second
A never ending torture of existence, of living
Yet, there is no physical pain
No mental anguish nor emotional strife
There is only the cold seeping chill of an empty life,
In the yawning expanse of time, a bleak future beckons
Time grinds and grinds away at my soul
I have lost so much yet I remain whole
Only just
My emotions flicker in and out, barely felt
Blood rushes through my veins,
I can no longer hear its strains
The world, once vibrant has lost its color
Everything is now dull, drab and gray
Yet in fleeting moments everyday,
As I breathe in, the world resets
Everything seems right
I am still whole and thats okay
And time still grinds away at my soul.
"Everyday must feel like a Holiday"They say,
Around me, everyone laughs
And loves
And lives
At the stroke of the hour, I die alittle within
Bit and pieces of me fall into the abyss
Never to be seen, never to return
They don't see the parts that are gone
Neither do I
I know that I am whole but only in body
Time still grinds away at my soul
I feel the weight of time more keenly than ever
Jobless, hopeless, useless
In this valley of disappointment that I reside
Every moment is torment when hope has died
Time is not cruel but it is not kind
And time never stops
God, time just never stops
Not for them and not for me
Forward it marches on,
Pitiless and unyielding from dusk till dawn
Swept along in its stream, i have no choice
Caught in its relentless roll
I only wish it could be gentle with me
But time still grinds away at my weary soul
Apr 11, 2024
Apr 11, 2024 at 1:57 AM UTC
Laid off, laid on; spot the difference?
Don’t take it personally, it’s just business.
Busy-ness. Keep your hands on the table.
Am I looking for a job or am I looking for myself?
Because this job board is just a mirror of the spaghetti mess that I am.
Parmesan does sound good, though.
Is it getting hot in here?
Turn on the AC and close the window - my money’s flying away.
At least one of us is free.
Mar 30, 2024
Mar 30, 2024 at 1:39 AM UTC
Another job looking to hire
Resume uploaded
No I don't want to upload a cover letter
Yes I have the right to work
Click click click
It's almost robotic
Senseless and pathetic
Rejection after rejection
Sometimes it's radio silent
Clicking hoping for a reaction
Getting repetitive but I'm hell bent
To be among the many who slave away hours
Days into nights and again
It's a silly thing to envy
But it's the only independence
clicking can give me
May 31, 2023
May 31, 2023 at 11:52 PM UTC
She sweeps up the shards
and she doesn't recognise them:
the shards of a man.
Jul 24, 2022
Jul 24, 2022 at 2:52 AM UTC
If, I were Indian
I would be A. P. J.
AbdulKalam
descendant son
And, to be
Gandhi's legatee
To marry a young
Nigerian senorita, to
give birth a pretty
And beautiful baby
To copy all I imitated
From my fore fathers
To lead Nigeria and, to
revolutionize the nation
To grow more than
Russia and to be
Like Saudi Arabia
Jul 14, 2020
Jul 14, 2020 at 6:06 PM UTC
I asked for opportunities,
They said i should search.
I searched in all available channels,
They said i should apply.
I applied for everything,
They said i should be qualified.
Then i told them, I am hungry!
They promised a viand.
I reminded them,
Wait, They gave me hope.
Everything that had remained,
Started overflowing.
For the stubbing,
Was all over my body.
May 29, 2020
May 29, 2020 at 1:19 AM UTC
A lifetime suffered a lost love be found wearing no mask
but lovers wore many
each time we crossed roads again.
Now a mandatory sinester splinter
requiring mask as chip to buy food,
is implemented overnight.
I was hunted down trashed for years
and wished I wore masks for safety. prayed long my enemies be isolated from staining my treasures with distrust.
dreamt to be loved regardless of race creed nationality or social status;
we all seem faceless prompting
equality but, are we just one race?
Are we really faceless underneath macabre fear stained masks?
Now everyone good and evil tastes a bit of their own enforced medicine
on locked down mode eat sleep
isolating themselves just like they did me
this offeres no justice no relief
This pandemic universal malady
seeing no class no status
our abodes or manssions are prisons prisons for our mind!
clipping our last freedom wings
we are so tired of wars after wars.
Louis Amstrong song
"What a Wonderful World"
just keeps popping in mind at
6:49 AM George Noory radio show
Have we surrendered our freedoms
for safety to live life free-less?
Do we then deserve any?
Isolated years endured has saved me from untimely death where enemies
ploted profiting from my demise.
I remain aware awake enough to understand there's a cat inside this
Pandora's box lid closed up quickly.
Governments hording many a secret
unreleased but what is the mystery?
The value of liberating truth
is the price placed on a lie
sold to us all for mare peanuts
to keep us asleep sheeply
masked obeying or else
face illness untimely death,
distrusting all even ourselves,
is the new way of life the big change.
Can the world ever trust anything
anyone entity government
friend family stranger?
We aren't cowards nor lack courage
we are exausted enough to give up
surely temporarily though
for the human spirit relentless is
resilient outwordly born free
like you, like me, like us.
ditch the masks accept no chips
Let's grab this weird dictatirial change
by it's ugly covert horns.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karijinbba
05-11.2020
May 12, 2020
May 12, 2020 at 2:14 PM UTC
Emptiness, loneliness, anxiety.
When will it all end?
Unemployment, boredom and despair.
When will it all end?
It seems it will never end.
Apr 24, 2020
Apr 24, 2020 at 7:27 AM UTC
A silent look lingers,
Blurred to your angel face.
You tell me you can’t
Handle the stress anymore,
(Don’t you know how hard I’m trying?)
That it’s taking a toll.
(You think I don’t already know?)
A flood of tears held back
By dams behind my eyelids.
The anchor in my throat
Has me screeching to a halt.
You tell me that
Everything I once had, I can
Get it right back,
(Don’t you remember how unhappy I was?)
Because you can’t bear the weight.
(I see how unhappy you are.)
White flags high up;
Toasts from empty cups.
I’d give my life to
Ease your strain.
(Don’t you know how much I’ve prayed?)
Apr 8, 2020
Apr 8, 2020 at 11:12 PM UTC
Where we should Go?
We have absolutely no idea
Please show us the path
Show us our fate or destiny
Wherever we visit, wherever we Go
They ask Money, They Demand Money
Somewhere they ask for tickets
Unfortunately Tickets are sold for money
Please provide us Jobs
Then we will also have some money
Then we will also pay
But until then don’t ask money from us
May 15, 2019
May 15, 2019 at 2:39 AM UTC
A for Austerity, P for Poverty,
R for Recession, and U for Unemployment.
Recession is in town with her three
Un-amusing friends, whose hands are always
on their lips; and wherever the gang goes
they take away the fun from that place;
tinny Tanana biko biko! Whose car is
unemployment going to take away, to
make him use his leg-dis benz?
Eeny Meeny Miney mo! Whose house is poverty
going to crash in, and undo a
lifetime’s work in a matter of weeks?
tinny Tanana, biko biko! What will austerity
sell to the state? Is it a string for
the ministers to tighten the state purse?
Hear! Hear! Recession is in town. Bad
policies invited her with her three friends
to party and paint the town gray;
shame on the leaders on whose watch the
doors of the state were opened to recession
and her three friends; their ears will
be filled with the wailing and insults of the
populace, like the cry of a widow, whose
only son has passed away, fills the house.
May 10, 2019
May 10, 2019 at 5:10 AM UTC
A Secretary-Receptionist Faces the Future - “I Know Where the Door Is, You Little Police Academy Dropout.”
The name on the building changed again today
I must apply for my own job, they say
A smarmer wants more work for much less pay
It’s time to reconstruct my resume’
I once was great with videotape and film
And could type fifty-five words a minute
On an IBM Selectric; my skills are dim
The boy-boss taps on a plastic box - what’s in it?
For forty years I ruled the company’s ground floor -
Security, with a sneer, shows me the door
Apr 2, 2019
Apr 2, 2019 at 4:07 PM UTC
Ticket, Ticket Everywhere
Money, Money Everywhere
Everything is Reserved
For the Money makers and Rich
Want to ride in a Bus, Car or Taxi
Or Travel in Ship, Train or Aeroplane
Use your brain, my dear
Please shell out some money
Oh Sorry, You dropped that ugly idea
Then what you are going to go?
Going to Circus or to watch a film
Want to go to a Book fair or a fete
Still have to Shell out some Money
It's not that funny, O' Honey
It's Business, Serious Business
Oh No, You can't even go to Public Park
Or the River bank either
Oh want to use Public Toilets
Do you think it's free?
No my dear, just Pay and Use
You need some Food, Nice Cold drink
Or want to sip just a glass of plain water
Pay Some Money, Money and Money
Money is the religion and the faith
Need a Pen to write your pain
Again I have to ask for Money
We Money monger are the rules
You Un-employed are the problem
Either pay or perish, that’s a simple rule
That’s a golden Rule, Follow it
Don't try to break it. If you do
I bet, you will fail and fall in jail
Feb 24, 2019
Feb 24, 2019 at 10:44 AM UTC
Am I blind for believing you
for thinking the ordinary man
flaws and is exempted
its easier to blame, the weakest link
the one who will not get backed up by society
its easier to move on
if one is not affected directly
the system didnt fail us 100%
we fail the system at 50% and it meets us almost half way
its just easier for it to be wrong
because you are another smiling little ordinary man
because you dropped out of school, produced more children than you can handle, trash or *** where ever you feel like, give and collect bribes, cheat in exams or simply fail because you didnt work harder.
Join the others when they say the system failed them
but how many of you gave your best and the system didnot come through?
better starts with me and you.
Apr 19, 2018
Apr 19, 2018 at 6:41 AM UTC
I apply I apply, Yet, No reply No reply,
I apply I apply, Yet, No Interview No Interview,
I believe, I believe, I will get hired,
I believe, I believe, I will shine,
No matter how many times you reject, I apply I apply,
I linkedin, I linkedin many recruiters,
I throw many applications in Dice,
People say a friend in need is Friend Indeed,
A friend indeed found a job in past,
I wonder i wonder, all these job sites really work,
I wonder i wonder, all these job sites really work,
If you want to prove it right, find me a job where i sit tight,
If you want to prove it right, find me a job where i sit tight,
Job seeker, Job seeker, where have you been,
I have been to all these websites, but in vain,
Is there a train, which can find a job for my brain,
Time will reveal when will be sun shine!
I believe, I believe, I will get hired,
I believe, I believe, I will shine!
Apr 11, 2018
Apr 11, 2018 at 5:50 PM UTC