August 1, 2015

DIKE OKORO: "CONFIRMATION", "DON'T FORGET", "LAGOS, NIGHT"

Dike Okoro, a poet and short story writer, teaches at Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon. He was a finalist the Iliad Poetry Award and a recipient of a Sam Walton Fellowship. His poetry, stories, and nonfiction have appeared in Witness Magazine, World Literature Today, Yellow Medicine Review, The Caribbean Writer, Reverie and elsewhere. He is the author of the poetry volume, Dance of the Heart. He received his PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 



Sea, Sky IVJ 2015 August
Sea, Sky Painting PD

Confirmation

Now armed with the lessons of 
Life, I carry with me 

The sea and the sky 
Wherever I go.  

And when strangers ask
Why I labor the flesh 

To resist fresh  
Mistakes, I remind 

Them that we all 
Belong to the earth

And must fetch hope
From the sky's sunny home,

If we desire peace from
The sea within.  




Don’t forget 

When you plant a tree 
You preserve your father’s lineage

When you protect a river
You honor your mother’s sacrifice 

When you break bread with kisses, 
You forgive hisses 

When you shield from the heart worries 
You prolong your life 

These are not lines 
For talks and walks,

But treasures reaffirming
Life’s invaluable lessons. 



Lagos, night

For hours I stalked the sky’s glows,
And since they pelted me with silence,
My heart wandered like the solo wind
On the deserted bridge.

The breezes fondled my eyelashes
For rough edges I never knew
I had, and vagrants,
Scuttling here and there 
Like people running for cover in the rain,
Left more blames for time to name.

~Dike Okoro

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