O K E Y E N I B O O K S--L I T E R A T U R E R E-D E F I N E D
P O E M A B O U T L I F EThis site publishes the writings of Okey Eni which includes, Fiction, Poetry, Non-Fiction, Short Stories, Plays, Sparknotes, Love Poems, Poems about life, Poem of the day, and Law Journals. It's free reading.
Follow @okeyfredeniamazon.com/Okey-Eni ARGOSIES OF LACK
Look at the beige crescent of human forms
A homely hirsute specter unveiled
Argosies of lack flew over their heads
In stricken eerie banshee screech
They sulked cantankerously
Stricken gasp of dismay
Are we despicably remiss?
And things have gone amiss?
Wroth with stentorian wrath
We mirror the dreadful augury of our own decay
Globules of perspiration
That glistered like transparent pearls
Swelled like opaque blisters
A minimum wage finagled on us
Deft grimace of tribulation
BY
OKEY ENI
COPYRIGHT © 2012 OKEY ENI
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is one of the poems on Africa, although there was no mention of Africa in the poem. But the poem is talking about majority of African people who are stricken by hunger each day. People living outside Africa always talk about hungry African children, but I can tell you that it is not only children that are hungry and malnourished in Africa. Adults are too, but I guess any adult that has hands and feet has no business being hungry and malnourished, even in a famished land. Besides, hunger and malnutrition kill a lot more children than adults, because of their vulnerability.
From my opening note you must have deduced that this poem is all about the very poor people in Africa who lack the basic necessities of life. I use to live near a large sawmill and sometimes in the evening I use to go there to watch labourers sweating it out as they carry out their various chores. I use to watch ‘globules of perspiration’ cascading down their bodies. ‘All that hard labour for just a peanut’. At the time I wrote the poem, there was an agitation for an increase in minimum wage by the organized labour unions in Nigeria.
Have you ever thought about the irony of it, that the person who does the hardest labour in terms of physical exertion gets the least pay? I have always been intrigued by that thought pattern and I believe I have written a number of poems about it. However, this poem is not about my thought patterns, it is about the deprived people in Africa. This is one of my favorite topics, because I am a persistent advocate of the notion that poverty and hunger is the number one killer in Africa. More lives are lost in Africa to poverty and hunger and the resulting disease, than to wars. The statistics are frightening and since this is meant to be a short note, I wouldn’t delve into statistics even though I want to.
‘ARGOSIS OF LACK’, I believe the title is self explanatory; it is really what it said it is. It wasn’t my intention to disparage the mass of people described in the poem, because of some of the adjectives I used. I just wanted to bring out the severity of the matter and how pathetic it really is. I am trying to explain this because I can’t lay claim to being one of the people described in this poem. I have never done a single physically exerting labour all my life, all the physical exertion I have done are part of my recreational activities or keep fit routine.
But I am a serious advocate for the masses, and I always wondered why some people should go hungry in the midst of wealth. That of course brings us to the question, who does the wealth of a nation belong to? Maybe we should consult Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, I believe some of the things those guys said made some impression. Especially Karl Marx in his book ‘The Wealth Of A Nation’ and also Fredrich Engels in his book, ‘The Origin Of The Family, Private Property And The State. I visited India recently and I saw a vivid example of majority of the citizens wallowing in abject poverty, while a few are swimming in untold riches. India is a nation coming into some wealth but the wealth is not trickling down to the masses fast enough, and I keep asking myself who owns all these riches springing up, just a few people. It has always been my opinion, that how wealthy a nation is should be measured by the well-being of the masses of that nation, and not by statistics being reeled out every now and then.
I could go on and on here, but this note is intended to be a short one. On a final note I will once more urge you to go to amazon.com to purchase the collection of poems, Nostalgia, and other books written by me. The link is – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007T8TYI0/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=okeeniandco-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B007T8TYI0&adid=0ECSV4JPQQ078B4KFVCE&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.okeyeni.com%2F2012%2F09%2Fpoem-of-day-002-tartan-army_9.html.
You will find a lot of poems that dealt with the issue of poverty in Africa, especially that of minimum wage. The issue of minimum wage is crucially in Africa, as corrupt politicians tend to short change workers so that they will have enough public funds to steal and stash abroad. In Nigeria the matter is in a bad state, and state governments are the worst culprits. Revenue derived from the sale of crude oil is shared among the three tiers of government; most of the funds end up in corrupt politician’s pockets. Meanwhile the state governors are busy shouting to the high heavens of paucity of funds to pay a hundred dollars a month minimum wage to their workers.
Check out this other poem I also wrote about minimum wage and poverty.
http://www.okeyeni.com/2012/02/poem-of-day-021-gargoyle-giggle.html
And if you wish to support the author to continue churning out digital works for your reading pleasure, then donate whatever you can through the PAYZA button below.
Check out this other poem I also wrote about minimum wage and poverty.
http://www.okeyeni.com/2012/02/poem-of-day-021-gargoyle-giggle.html
And if you wish to support the author to continue churning out digital works for your reading pleasure, then donate whatever you can through the PAYZA button below.
BY
OKEY ENI
COPYRIGHT © 2012 OKEY ENI
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