POEMS … BY AYO AKINFE

THE MERCHANT OF NNEWI
He sells his wares to young and old
Car spare parts all bright and bold
Boring and technical bits too
Down to even to very small screws

From sunrise to sunset he works
The merchant of Nnewi is a horse
He slaves away until dusk sets
Then slips away to his warm ofe

A man of modest means and ways
The Nnewi merchant does not spray
He eschews the owanbe path
Thinks nothing but about those cars

Into his trade his brothers come
With time they too become someone
As business grows they all expand
Nnewi alone produces such a man

No one can understand his ways
They know not how to break his trade
Both those from near and far away
Cannot breakthrough into the trade

Nnewi man travels far and wide
Taking his kiosk to every clime
No doubt his success is envied
But Nnewi merchant ignores enemies




AFRICANS DO POLYGAMY

Africans do polygamy
Like others too in southern seas
Unlike like their brethren of the north
They see more brides as a good cause

In times gone past a while ago
It was that way everywhere you go
But now monogamy is in vogue
Philandering has become a new ghost

Which of the two is best to be
Polygamy or monogamous infidelity
Are concubines more dignified
Than gathering brides as lawful wives

What do you daughters of Eve think
Given the choice which would you pick
To be a nice bit on the side
Or be indoors with all your pride

Are Xumas ways the rightful ones
Or do you find them pugnatious
Are men's hearts not big enough
To love their wives with more than lust

Has man departed from the path
By switching to a monogamous heart
Other mammals are still polygamous
Are we not too multi amorous


IT'S NOT ABOUT HANDBAGS AND GLOSS

It's not about handbags and gloss
Feminism's about a woman's loss
It should be about the cancer jinx
Ovarian type and the cervix

About maternal mortality
Child marriages in infancy
Providing girls good education
Ending reliance on male attention

Although liberation comes in too
They must be allowed who they choose
Not with an old man twice their age
But someone whose on the same page



I weep for Ngozis and Adas
Iyabos, Maryams and Halimats
They face near death at child birth
And then have to rear boys and girls

With little in the way of help
From these commissioners of health
They toil from dusk to dawn poor souls
Looking for ways to break the mould

Women in power are little use
For they do not suffer abuse
They do not share the pains we see
As they just enjoy the cash party


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ayo Akinfe, born in Salford, Manchester, is a London-based journalist who has worked as a magazine and newspaper editor for the last 20 years. Ayo attended Federal Government College Kaduna and obtained his first degree in history from the University of Ibadan. He returned to the UK in 1990 and did his post-graduate studies in journalism at the University of Westminster in London.

After working in journalism for 19 years, Ayo decided to switch to book writing after realising that there is simply too little out there on African history. Fuelling the Delta Fires is one of a series of novels aimed at highlighting Africa’s sorry plight and the misleading image peddled about her.

A big Wilbur Smith fan, Ayo plans to make his series about West Africa similar to what Wilbur has done in southern Africa. Ayo has read all of Wilbur’s 33 novels and believes what has been done there can be replicated in the West African sub-region.