Imole Olusanya

When you stab You pierce hard;  When you soothe It is like the refreshing wind  When one is soaked with sweat  from throttling heat. You are like a word left unsaid  No hearer can discern it; You are the dream of pharaoh  The very content of manifestos  The weight of wisdom in a fool's ravings  Empty void null. Comforting agony  Refuge from labour  Citadel from torture An escape from duty  The bereaved's best friend  The blind's loyal pal. During your reign, There existed a seeker  who groped in nothing less; A seeker who collided with walls  when within his reach was what he sought. Here is a poem about darkness. The poet describes darkness by attributing human qualities to it. The first stanza starts with ‘when you stab, you pierce hard’, this could result from how engulfing darkness can be; it dominates. ‘When you soothe, it is like the…’, the remaining lines speak of the sweet part of darkness. Darkness soothes, especi...

  The long dim shadows Of surrounding trees, The hooting sound of an owl, With enchanting whispers of the breeze. The rhythmic movements Of scudding clouds, The cock-a-doodle-doo of a cock, With tranquilizing gurgles of the brooks. The gentle sharp tingles Of moving reeds, The chirping of a cricket, With startling buzzes of wild bees. A remembrance of our existence, The very essence of our being, That as they live on, So should we. Here is a poem about nature and life. The essence of living is made known through nature. The poem is in four stanzas with each stanza made up of a quatrain (four lines). This poem has no end rhymes but gets its rhythm through the repetition of words, sounds and similar ideas. Poetic devices in this poem include: 1. Onomatopoeia, as seen in the sounds such as cock-a-doodle-doo,  2. Repetition, as seen in the repetition of the first word of each line in the first three stanzas. 3. Alliteration, as seen in -z- which alliterates in line 12.

  Do I make you feel as a teetotaller feels when he takes a cup of beer? Does my sight warm your heart or hurts your eyes as gazing at the sun does? Does my touch feel like the raging sun on your skin or like rain on the same? Does my arms around you make you feel in a safe haven or does it make you feel surrounded by thistles fortified by summer? Do you at my presence feel like a caged bird or like a bird set free? How free do you feel? Is it like a bird set free with its feather to fly plucked? Does your smile as bright as the noon sun define how you feel with me or hide the same? Does your heart tingle or squirm? Does your heart scream to your lips to take mine in captivity or does it scream to your legs to take over? Do I do your precious life as stars do the sky or as feet do the river? Do I as water does fire or as good soil does root do you?

It is dawn and the little monkey is thirsty he drinks on with no ear for the evils da da dum he drinks and raises his head in glee Tum tum the hospitable brooks gurgle the leopard prances in the thicket from a distance father monkey calls little monkey stiffens and swings away the leopard retreats. The sheep scamper with the puppies they lay across the road with goats the sheep amble with the calves while frisking with the kids the ewe calls gambol with the puppies but never eat the same move with the goats but never act the same saunter with the calves but stray not to the bullring this the orphaned lamb knows not. The moorhen flies to the runnel the pipit adores serenity the thrush and the blackbird perches the fowler spreads his net the poacher triggers his riffle mother thrush tweets and squawks the fowler fouls up and the poacher poaches void only the deaf bird is entangled.

  During the day you tease some You tease them till they drool; During your formal hours You become a demon with two horns. Without a fight, You take away what the young one holds; And when there is no headrest, You let the old one throw his head away. When you work with the breeze, You work wonders; You tickle the storekeeper Till the last good is looted. When you lay your hands on some They begin to buzz like bees; Here is the world heavyweight champion In the middle of my palms! When life punches my face I run to you for comfort; But when I linger in your bosom, You begin to hack me in bits. Here is a poem about sleep. The power of sleep is being discussed throughout the poem.  The first stanza speaks of how sleep could make people start drooling even though it is daytime and when it is night '...your former hours', sleep is said to become a demon with two horns for it has a lot of work to do at that period. In the second stanza, sleep is said to take what the young one ho...

Peace is the sun rising              in the morn              with hues the eyes relook             and stress the sun is              while its armour is worn. Peace is me being wrapped up              in swaddling clothes              in my cozy cot             inside the twilight moon              away from wild critters here. Peace is ease with pain removed              and even more easeful it is to flatline. This poem tells what peace is by stating examples. Peace is regarded as the sun rising in the morning with colours we love and we have to look again. Sure, peace is what we all want to keep enjoying. Stress is the sun when its armour is worn means that it becomes the opposite o...

  If sun never takes a pause The world might be full of flaws If day never ceases a while The world might not rest awhile. Let the birds flap their wings Let the birds perch on trees Let the wind blow and the rain fall But let the two pause and sprawl. Take a break To escape a wreck Take a break Or become a wreck. Here is a poem about rest. This poem opens our eyes to the need to rest by using nature. If the sun never rests then a lot of things might get damaged by it and if all we have is day and there is no night, then we might not have bedtime. The birds fly and they rest on tree branches, wind blows and rain falls and they both take a break. Therefore, in the last stanza, we are asked to take a break so that we will not become a wreck (someone ruined). The poem is in three stanzas with each having four lines (a quatrain) and a rhyme scheme of aabb. The dominant poetic devices is repetition. Check out the 50 collected Poems of Imole Olusanya