You Are Magic

All eyes on me but mine bore holes in you

 

Sweetly swirling before my eyes

 

Like gamblers follow their rolling dice

 

Walking on air endless without a care

 

And like a moth's attraction to light

 

My day surrenders to your night

 

Don't notice how green their envy is

 

Bliss like no one can truly give

 

Makes my heart beat in heave

 

All my doubts have disappeared

 

Can only see your graceful allure

 

Bewitching with the charm of azure

 

Take you out of me and the magic is gone.

Emeka Amakeze

HOPE OF MY DREAM

I sometimes let go of myself and savour the joy of my daydreams. 

The joy of knowing that things can only get better is always sweet.

Even though the angry and sharp pangs of today’s hunger bite bitterly,

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

Empty pockets make one think that luxury pamper is a waste of money.

But if I can’t buy all the things I want, let me afford the ones I need at least.

Let me accept that garri and rice are both starch instead of change of diet.

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

I am definitely going to have the best woman in the world for a wife.

She is going to be so tender, very caring and absolutely loving.

That missing rib that is the bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

Though I lack spare shoes and the ones I have now are so worn out,

I have lived uncomfortably in the only clothes I have for many years.

Being at daggers drawn with my landlord over rent must surely stop!

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

I am not lazy, but wouldn’t mind working with ease of mind.

Who’s not tired of working their fingers to the bones for peanuts?

Getting a little more than I can ever get in wages won’t kill me.

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

I won’t be too greedy to ask for a skyscraper or something better.

But if such are the cherries of my toil, I won’t reject them either.

For a roof over my head keeps worries of wetness and shine away.

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

I dream of a better tomorrow; to wipe away the bitter tears of today.

God is really good must come to everybody’s mind when they see me.

It is this hope that has kept me believing in those lovely dreams.

I will never let go of the hope that my dreams will surely come true.

Emeka Amakeze

I Heard

I have been searching for another like you

But those words never cease to haunt me

One day you will wake up and not find me

You said those with tears in your eyes

They didn’t mean much to my uncaring soul

But with the grief of a child, I now remember

I have wished for nothing else but what we had

But I heard you are now happily married

I never knew there weren’t two of you out there

Reaching out for you in others is now a mirage

How can I forget your tears when you said to me

“I love you but you are hurting me”

Now I wish I could even say that to you

As long as I have you in my life

But sadly, I heard you’re now happily married

You gave me your all and I gave you nothing

I now know it hurts not to be in love with you

Just like others before her, she’s nothing like you

I heard you are now very happy but I cry

A river of my tears flood the pillow we shared

How much pain did I cause you? I miserably ask myself

Where was my selfish heart when tiny drops of hurt tears

Ran a river down your heart and your love sailed away

I heard he makes you very happy

  

Sitting at a corner staring at the pieces of my heart

Broken by those I thought were sexier than you

My pride is gone but heartache keeps me company

I am sad but I heard your laughter now rings out

Can’t believe I sacrificed all you had for me

On the alien altar of uncertain scarlet women

And now I am paying for my waywardness

I just woke up and realized that you’re gone

I heard you are now happy

Emeka Amakeze

Taking the heat: Kitchen Politics

There has been a lot of arguments over why a woman should invite her would be daughter in-law to the kitchen when she visits for the first time. Different people have their varying perspectives on the subject.

However, I cannot help but remember some of the things my late grandmother told me as a kid as regards the kind of politics played in kitchen, and I realized why a mother would invite a ‘stranger’ in her kitchen. Though her era is gone and the dynamics of culture transmission have taken their toll on that aspect of our life as a people, kitchen politics has not completely changed.

As a kid, my grandmother made me understand that intrinsically, women did not invite their brides to be to the kitchen to test them. It was basically a huge sign of acceptance. There was absolutely nothing to test because she and her entire family had known almost every detail about a bride to be before she set foot in her would be husband‘s home. This used to be a standard marriage procedure in Igbo culture which was achieved via the practice of iju ese where families ask questions or perform divinations to gain insight into the worldview and practices of the families their sons or daughters would get related by marriage.

She said that the politics of the kitchen was all about control.

Women rarely shared their kitchen with people they neither trusted nor liked and because their kitchen and its immediate surroundings was a no fly zone for men, it was one of the safest places for women to make or mar; the success or failure of a man or even an entire family can be decided in the kitchen. They did everything within their power to keep the men away from the kitchen.

Now, the acceptance of a daughter in-law to be in the form of bringing her to the kitchen transmutes to sessions of knowledge acquisition for the young girl which either improves on or reiterates what she has already learnt about the politics of the fireplace from her own mother. Such knowledge serves certain purposes such as.

1. Reminding the bride to be that the women who effectively managed their kitchen were warriors who safeguarded their families. There were zero margins for error because if by error or mistake, an enemy gains access to the kitchen and poisons the food, an entire family is wiped out. They keenly watched what their families ate and made sure they had healthy and uncontaminated food. They forbade their children from eating from families and people who did not have healthy habits.

2. Limiting the culinary knowledge of the man to the barest minimum and shaming him to shreds if he showed more than a passing interest in learning kitchen affairs even as a boy. They reported such a man who is interested in the kitchen to his fellow men that he was becoming effeminate and most definitely, they will join in shaming such a man as not fit to be among them. Failure to keep the man in check was tantamount to losing control.

The men would toil from dawn to dusk at their farms to provide the much needed food but the most loved hands were the ones that cooked the food in the kitchen and served. Children knew who fed them whenever they were hungry and nobody needed to ask where their loyalty anchored. Children can forgive you for taunting their father but only God can forgive you when you taunt their mothers? Imagine the pride of the man who is served food that was a little bigger and had more pieces of meat than the ones served the rest of his fellow men. The power that came from the man appreciating that food and the gesture against the background of his interaction with his fellow men would be evident when she needed a favour.

My grandmother made me understand that the kitchen department was the only place the men dared not ask questions about how the money they provided for food was spent. The tough or brave ones who dared to ask for accounts got robust explanations and often ended up coughing out more money to pay off debts the wives owed imaginary ogiri and ukpaka sellers at the market. A woman could even save as much as she wanted.

For her, the sweat and heat of the fireplace was a little sacrifice they had to make, which was inconsequential compared to the power and control that came from managing the kitchen effectively.

That was an era. It is now a new era. Times and tides have changed.

Emeka Amakeze

My Village Shrine

My Village Shrine

I placed my feet one after the other in movement

Swirling red African dust settled on my feet

As I ate the distance between me and my destination

The laterite road surrendered to a leafy pathway

Noise of occasional passing cars and human chatter

Lost to the quietude of this enigma of a forest

Pulled forward by an invisible force of curiosity

I moved further into the forest towards the stream

From where they say my village shrine reigned

Even before the days of the father of my fathers'' father

And the deeper I went into the belly of the forest

The more fearsome the trees grew to be.

The shrubs became phantoms by tricks of my mind

And the eerie silence became loudly menacing

Running waters drummed to startle as I got near to it

And then, remembering the wisdom of the elders

I liberated my voice to hoarse shouts of the mortals

That the water spirits would go in and grant me safe passage

Between the water that gives life and the land of the African gods

The journey ends for the mortal female except the few favoured by the gods

And even those initiated into the revered cult of priesthood.

Just as the secret of the owl shall never be made known to daylight

So is the shadowy ancient trail to the seat of my village shrine.

My fathers'' father told me that I was initiated ahead of my mates

And so, I should not be afraid of a handshake with the gods

I shook off the cobwebs of trepidation hanging all over me

Looked around and in a leap of faith and courage

Sailed across the stream and walked into the thick undergrowth

Unnervingly evident that I was all by my curious self

It was a journey across the fabled playground of the gods

I knew about them – revered messengers of the gods

Right onto my path they sent chills down my spine

I had come too far to tolerate thoughts of going back.

The apes considered me with fearsome judging eyes

Found me worthy of an encounter with the abode of the gods

Left me to my fate and continued on their tour of duty

Cries of unusual birds I did not see bade me welcome

I ventured yet nearer my destination.

Excitedly, I sallied forth into the last of the shrubs

Before the sacred grotto but as nothing prepared me

For the extraordinary spectacle that beheld me,

I was bewitched and enthralled.

I cautiously moved my unwilling legs

Towards the subject of my visit

I sat down on a carved ancient wooden stool

Right in front of the cave and picked a piece of white clay...

Clay of the gods

I crushed a little and applied on my eyes

With a gradual comprehension that

I was really in the presence of a force

Beyond my mortal understanding,

My eyes grew accustomed to the darkness enveloping me

And I beheld it - my village shrine

Emeka Amakeze

She Died

She leaned on my shoulders and never woke up again

Her hot tears scalded me as they streamed down my back

Lifelessly she hung by me and nobody else felt her pulse

Couldn’t see her lips move but felt she had a bit to say

They argued and agreed she was as dead as a door nail

 

I am here now and you can talk to me I whispered to her

Her pains, fears and heartbreak took shapes before me

Fought back my tears as my heart melted to her ordeals

Urged her to agree with them that she was totally dead

Lost to the world of everything else but the two of us

Tiny warmth, strength of a woman within her heart

Fanned into unquenchable embers of affectionate flames

By the words I sang into her ears and rubbed into her skin

 

I told her she didn’t need to worry her pretty head off

She raised her head, looked me in the eyes and smiled at me

I smiled, she smiled, we smiled and our hearts glowed

And her feelings and soul died to all that hurt her in the past

Held her tenderly yet with arms so firm like no other

My strength and aura were the assurances she needed

Kissed her and promised her that everything is alright

She never woke up to the fears that brought her to me

Emeka Amakeze

Winning Edge

She wants a beautiful wedding. He wants to cash out. But somebody must pay the huge price.

Winning Edge is an exciting family drama that will keep you entertaining with lots of intrigues and suspense.

Written, produced and directed by Emeka Amakeze

Starring actors like

Emma Ayalogu

Tina Mba

Emeka Amakeze

Yvonne Jegede

Justice Slik

Jerry Williams

Ernestina Chikere

Ijeoma Nnanna

I Have Something To Say

You are the fairest of them all and they never cease to be awed as they laud and applaud the handiwork of God and none ever jawed you my love. Your beauty is not flawed because you are not a fraud. I will fight and claw to make your path broad

Because I am your knight that always comes to your fight. You make me recite how much skin-tight my love fits to your heart. I will hold you through the night till our spirits are truly light with the delight we know how well to excite.

You have been a dearest friend and you alone I will always send. I will bend even to break just to make amend to blend in your life my love. They cannot comprehend how much I depend on your trend because you do not pretend.

How long has it really been since my soul desires to be seen by you? I will trek even to Berlin to feel you addict me like caffeine because I have truly missed you and your African cuisine. I am keen not to allow anybody come in between us my love

I am so proud you are well-endowed and because you give me the happiness of a crowd, you make me scream aloud when you exude that appeal that puts me in the mood and I make you reach for the cloud. Your love feels like food to my soul

You are aware I value you more than air because you have shown me how much you care by making me an heir and I feel like a billionaire in this love affair. I swear nobody out there will dare to compare with you my rare luminaire

Never met any that is half the woman you are and as I quaff of your love and because you are not a diamond in the rough, you make me feel like a chief among my peers. You make me laugh even when times are tough and make me call bluff of those who think I should have had enough

Assuaging my fear with each passing year, you have made me appear drunk without a drop of beer and fearless like a brigadier. I will commandeer whatever you find so dear and make all your worries disappear and veer you away from every wear and tear.

I am not in contest for your love because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You are my crest of affection and my chest cannot contain all your zest even if compressed. I am blessed you are mine and I will stay away from all that you detest

I will always have something to say about the way you make me sway and Cupid will first betray love before I delay to tell you how much I love you from day to day. I will whisk you to fantasy land straight away and never allow you to stray

I still have something more to say my love. 

An Emeka Amakeze's poetic thought 

Line Of Sight

Despite all our efforts, they still want us to disunite

Our blood is their delight as my country  they blight

Bringing fight unwanted to force us to take to flight

Unusual fright is in the land but there is none to indict

No light to brighten our paths for none there is the knight

The peace promised is but a sleight of hand in our sight

For our plight is to vote that our wealth be their right

Deafening disquiet of a once powerful home-land in delight

The height of their insensitivity pushes us to self-ignite

Our collective might as a people no more gives us respite

Not with morale as tight as wood eaten inside by termite

I recite our anthem and I realise that nothing is now alright

Our name is bigger than Elephant but we're cowered like ant

Is this the rite of passage for this giant of Africa spite?

Smite this evil in our land that we shall once again be great

But how could this ever be if you and I don’t make it right