My heart, my joy, my love by Dupe Holloway

My heart, my joy, my love

It feels good to know that I am yours

Finally I know what it is to see the world through rose coloured glasses

My master the glasses are off

You knocked it off last night with a slap

But I have on my LV shades to cover the black eye you left

My abuser, I said no this morning yet you forced yourself on me

You never asked why I said no even though I never refused you before

I hope u are satisfied because I have reached the end of my rope

My darling, my light you decreed today would be our last day as man and wife

How right you are, I have served the last food I would prepare for you

Because today I become a widow for I made your egusi with Aconitum.

by Dupe Holloway

Stop the Violence...!!!!

The phrase violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, which it is sometimes considered this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive.

The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself.

Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. A UN resolution designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Poem written by Seye La Poet, Olulu, Kemistry, Arch Angel, Atilola and Titilayo.

Poem was compiled/ synchronized by Atilola

Executive Producers:  Stephen Oshilaja Media Production and i2X Media Company Limited.

I AM THIRSTY by Ali Baba (Word Up Volume 6 Celebrity Poet)

I AM THIRSTY

I am thirsty
For this, that, here, there, now, always
Insatiable, unsatisfied, unfulfilled, undone
I want, I crave, I need, I try, I wish
For this for that and for everything good
I am thirsty
Call me thirsty... Not Tastee

I am thirsty
For books, mags, journals, news, novels, printed matters
Knowledge, education, improvement, enhancement
I read, I cram,I scan, I edit, I grow
For now, for then and for tomorrow too
Call me thirsty... Not Tastee

I am thirsty
For love, affection, hugs, smiles, thoughts, memories,
Caring, sharing, wanting, touching, smooching, loooooving
I can, I should, I might, I will, I must
For me, for you and for them too
Call me thirsty... Not Tastee

I am thirsty
For leadership, justice, security, prosperity, accountability, peace
Executive, legislative, judiciary, individuals, organizations
I campaign, I vote, I wait, I wait, I waitoooooooooooo
For why, for what and for where!
Call me thirsty... Not Tastee

I am thirsty
For Toolz, Serena, Oprah, Aruma Oteh,
Body, brains, beauty, beliefs, behavior,
I think, I wish, I salivate, I dream, I swallow
For this, for that and for nothing
Call me thirsty... No no... Call me Mary

by
ALI BABA (King of Comedy in Nigeria)

Happy Birthday??? by Olulu

Happy Birthday??? 

Time heals???
Maybe, 
but the pain never leaves.
A phone number that can no longer be answered by the voice that owns it.
A picture is all the physical evidence left,
thus memories are all we can cherish right now.
I have asked "Why" for so long, 
but getting an answer is not guaranteed.
So all I can say is,
Sleep on my beautiful sister, continue to rest in the Lord.
Hope they are throwing a party for you today,
do enjoy yourself as the Angels sing aloud.
Happy Birthday dear.









by Olulu

No more tears by Daniel Ikekhuah.

No more tears

I feel shame when I look into the mirror;

I feel bitter to see what I’ve become.

I can’t tell my friends or family; who would believe me?

I can’t tell the police, they will only mock me.

I am that girl who people describe as little;

But you really don’t have a clue what I’ve been through.

The ones who are supposed to protect me;

End up taking advantage of me.

At sixteen I was called a pretty teen;

But daily I deal with low self-esteem.

Used and abused by the ones I look up to;

I being pushed, and might take my life if it comes to.

Marriage was supposed to be my sweet haven;

Nothing else to compare except God’s Holy Heaven.

But in the arms of the one I truly  loved;

I suffer the pain of his fist as thick as gloves.

And when he is not hitting me;

He speaks uncaring cold hearted words, stinging me.

For better fore worse was the vow I took;

But better remains oblivious,

As this journey keeps growing worse.

I am that woman next door;

We even go to the same market, in the same bus;

I am that girl in your classroom;

Who you think is being pompous in your point of view;

I am the little girl in the playground;

All by myself, ensuring no boy is around.

I yearn to tell my story

That justice would take the glory

But will you accept back in society

And not point your fingers back at me….

I beckon on you;

Come to my rescue.

Help tell my story;

That justice would take the glory.

Else I'll cry; till I have no more tears in my eyes.

by Daniel Ikekhuah

Word Up Volume 6 is scheduled for November 23, 2013 at Terra Kulture, V/Island, Lagos, with the theme, "Stop the violence." The event theme is centered around the United Nation’s “International day for the elimination of violence against women.” 

SPEECHLESS by IBE CHIEMEZIE

SPEECHLESS by IBE CHIEMEZIE

Seventeenth October, two thousand and thirteen was the day

A day I felt was just  like every other one.

Although it was my birthday,

the last thing on my mind was celebration.

The original plan was to stay quietly indoors

and make no noise about it at all

But for my friends.

These people their love for me never ends.

They protested,

in fact they revolted.

They said to me, 'Young man, today is not just your birthday,

today is World's Chimex Day! "

On Demand, I stepped out of that closet of mine,

And they gave me a treat of a lifetime.

The deluge of messages I got,

to my eyes brought joyful tears so hard I fought

Some said I was cute , others said I was handsome,

some others said I was much more than awesome

But a tweet from the world famous Kelly Hansome

Made me feel like the biggest and brightest of the stars - the sun.

If love was drugs, I got overdose.

If love was alcohol, I was intoxicated.

If love was water, I got an ocean.

If love was a mountain, I stood on Everest.

Right now I sit back and reminisce,

Giving thanks to the one who's made my life a masterpiece.

The one who's blessed me with joy and bliss

And set my life on the path of increase

He is the King of Kings

The Lord of Lords and The Prince of Peace.

To my boss and mentor-Obyno

To my sister and second mother- Ijelo

To my superstar sibling and confidant- Chiso

This is a word of appreciation from your lil' bro- Emilo

To my God-given parents-Mummy and Daddy,

Nothing is what I am without your support

and the least I can say is, 'God bless you.'

To my cousins, I say 'Thank you.'

God's best gift to man is family,

and to have as part of mine, Sweetdiva and Chidi,

I count myself lucky.

As I drop my pen in the basket of love,

Knowing full well that by God and Man, I am loved,

the word of appreciation I want to give is endless,

But like Michael Jackson, I am SPEECHLESS.

by                              

IBE CHIEMEZIE

(Mex Konceptz)

How to Develop a Poem for Spoken Word Performance.

Written by Ami Mattison

Developing and rehearsing a poem for spoken word performance can be as rewarding as performing it in front of live audiences. For me, the development of a performance is an ever-evolving process through which I come to understand and appreciate my poetry better. Performance is a kind of bonding experience with a poem—with the experiences and sentiments it expresses. This bonding is a creative process for me, in which I lift the words from the page and nurture them into life with my body and breath.

Plus, developing a poem for performance is fun. It gives you an opportunity to experiment with your body and your voice, to find new meanings in your poetry, and to express yourself in new, creative ways.

If you’re just starting out, it’ll take time, patience, and lots of rehearsal to learn to develop your poetry for confident and successful performances on a consistent basis. These tips, however, will give you a head start on some simple practices that work for me.

• Find a rehearsal space. A physical space in which to develop and rehearse your poem, alone and uninterrupted, is ideal. This should be a place where you are free to be yourself and to experiment with your voice and your body movements without worrying about disturbing others or being overheard. However, finding such a space can be challenging, especially if you live with others. If that’s the case, then let them know what you’re doing, ask them not to disturb you, and try to tune them out.

• Memorize your poem. Certainly, you can develop a great performance while reading your poem from a book or the page, but dropping the paper and memorizing your poem frees up your hands for gestures, allows you to make good eye-contact, and creates a “barrier-free” zone between you and your audience. In other words, memorization provides a foundation for developing an intimate interaction with your audience. If you have trouble memorizing, then don’t worry. Instead, check out this article on memorization.

For Closet Poets: How to Claim Your Creative Identity.

Written by Ami Mattison

Do you write poetry but rarely if ever share it with other people? 

Does anyone even know you write poetry? Are you reluctant to call yourself a poet? Do you dream of publishing your poetry, but can’t bring yourself to move forward towards that aspiration?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you’re probably a closet poet, or a poet who hasn’t yet formally and publicly claimed that identity and embraced the full significance of his or her poetry and creative process.

Life in the Poetry Closet

In college, I was a closet poet. When a renowned poet Adrienne Rich visited our school, I was excited and eager to meet her. When I did, she asked me point-blank: “Are you a poet?” While I wrote poetry, and I was indeed a poet, I rarely shared my poetry with others and I had never publicly claimed that identity. So, my reply was: “No, I’m not a poet, but my friends are.”

At the time, I thought poets were only those artists who wrote brilliant poetry, not someone who, like me, was a mere beginner and who, like me, wasn’t formally trained to write poetry.

Why Come Out?

If you’re a closet poet and you’re reading this article, then you probably possess a deep desire to own your identity as a poet, to share your poetry with others, and to improve your writing skills.

By sharing your poetry with other poets and supportive friends and family members, you may just receive the necessary ego-boost and inner drive to work harder to improve your writing.

Plus, when done in a thoughtful way, sharing your poetry is fun and deeply rewarding, and you can’t reap the benefits of those rewards until you come out of the poetry closet.

Most significantly, if you’re dreaming of publishing your poetry, you won’t be able to take yourself or your poetry seriously enough to do so, until you come out as a poet.

CLANGINGS: This is not a poem...!!!!

This is not a note about Ex-Lovers
It is about the stunning unbefriendable women across world
Fenced away by the unseen wings of space

This is not an epistle 
It is about la-di-dahs who in 4745 days of their love lives, 
Never ever bordered to send a love letter 
Or receive a gift of rose either

This is not a poem per se
It is a reminder to not hold back a good thing
Because, you temporarily are just a custodian
Of a heart- a baby’s heart seething 

This is not a battleground
It is the gun-sounds of your heart-shots
Rendering my body into a debris 

This is not about heartaches and breakups
It is trusting my teen daughter to not rely on my opinion
To date a guy I know not from Eve

This is not about stringing words or painting hieroglyph-ed prescriptions
For blind patients
It is about a deaf man blowing a cello to dead men, walking

This is not about uncertainty or errata 
It is about cats caterwauling at the sight 
Of hapless dancing butterflies

This is not about sextractions or macho-quotients
It is about knowing the truth
Tasting the truth, yet testing the truth
In order to believe the lies

This is not a poem
So I need you to stop looking out for tropes
Where there is no imagery or symbols

This is not about dance macabre
It is lilting on a foot and scratching your itch
when all you got is peppered nails of hunger

This again is not about smashing
It is about varying pleasure with pressure 
Twitching and switching tongue-speed,
at mastered angles of attack

This is not about Amnesty or honesty
It is about Travesty 
Of handling hoodlums consent
Of reincarnation with blazing cudgels 

This is not about incarceration 
It is about death coming
Brandishing kisses and saying
In a familiar dreamy voice-
‘I bring you good news from yonder’

This is not a screaming contest
It is a whimpering release
Sliding disbelief into disaffection
And expecting anything short of regrets

This is not about a loveless world 
It is about finding a best friend
And hoping not to be friend-zoned for life

This is not about getting lost in lust 
It is in you looking for me 
And me finding you at the crossroad

This is not about making heaven or love
It is about ascending to the climax of freedom
And resisting return to the waste and chaos of landfills 

This is not about ‘red things’; red chili pepper
Red-lips 
Bloody hot things you dare not sup with your mouth;
It is about the riotous fluxes sieving blazing load-stones

This not about banking on God or 
Maidens seeking sexual deposits
It is about temples where miracles are procured
With banged-mints in the bank of God

This is not about guns 
It is not about school kids
It is not about News men and new lies
It is about unaccounted cadavers whisked off at birth

This is not about emergencies and hospitals
It is about caregivers decapitating invalids
To allow beds for jaundiced parents of haemophilia

This is not about birth marks or stretchmarks
Rather, it is about the stub that registers the sacrifices you’ll never need to make again

This is not about defloration on a tomb-slab
It is about rage tattooed on the inner thighs of 
Forsaken kids.

This is not about Fate or Faith
Neither is it about the gospel
It is about indissoluble lies frothing
In fabricated mouths

This is not a dirge 
Nor is it a requiem in the funeral of a killer
It is about the unshed tears for kids who died kissing bombs in sleep
Guessing they were toys in real life

This is not a preachment about God
It is a soliloquy about demigods selling dogs
To feed their gods of unbelief

This I say is not your everyday verses
Or clichéd words strewn on paper
It is about the wounded lines you hear with
Your eyes
The forked words inveigling your eardrums

This is not about selfishness
It isn’t even about you
It is about the me in you
The you in me
it is about us

© Shittu Fowora 2013

Violent Love by Tofarati Ige

We make love with punches and kicks,
make up with hugs and kisses/
This crazy whirlwind of ours,
That we call love,
Seems so strange,
Yet so familiar.
I find comfort in your rage,
Seek solace in your arms,
But you always bring me harm.
And I ask myself,
Am I crazy?
Have I lost my mind?
Or have I been hypnotised,
By this bestiality,
My beauty,
Seems to bring out the beast in you.
I thought they said love was true,
Guess whoever said that didn't think it through,
Cos our love is filled with violence.
A slap today,
A shove tomorrow,
You hurt me to my bone marrow.
My man, my anchor,
You're supposed to be my shield,
But you're the one who causes me pain,
You're driving me insane.
Yet I have to put on a happy face,
A fake smiley,
While inwardly I cry,
And ask, why me?
We hold hands together,
And people think we're the perfect couple,
How wrong they are,
I pity those who wish to be in my shoes,
What fools!
I beg to be let loose,
For of what use,
Are appearances to a ghost,
The society has chained me to you,
Cos they say it should be for better for worse,
I thought marriage was supposed to be fun,
Only now I know better,
It's an emotional prison,
And I wish to be set free,
Marriage should be a celebration of love,
Not a festival of hate,
I choose to live,
I choose to leave,
I'd rather have a dead marriage,
Than a dead body!

by Tofarati Ige aka G.T

Shihan Van Clief talking about coming to perform at WORD UP Volume 4 this May 18, 2013 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos Nigeria. The show will also feature the best of Nigerian Spoken Word Poets such as Plumbline, Efe Paul, Donna K, Atilola, Olulu, Elisheva, Lumynos, Obii, Enigmatic Olumide, Dolapo and many 

WORD UP Volume 4 preview. It comes up on May 18, 2013 at Terra Kulture, V/i, Lagos, Nigeria. It will feature Naija's A-list Spoken Word Poets, with a special performance by an Internationally renowned Spoken Word Poet. 
Music by Sensational Soul singer and emcees are Duvy and Don Fabrino.
Branding and Sponsorship Opportunities is still available.
Call +2348025070892
Or olulu4ever@gmail.com

Love is.............!!!!!

Princeps - The Renaissance Man.

A London Based Published Writer, Philosopher, Poet, Musician, Artist, Sculptor, Martial Artist (Kung Fu Style -Tiger) & Political / Social commentator. 

He says, call Me Legion-aire for I Am Many!

U.K.A. Or Uniquely Known As The Microphone Chameleon, This M.C. Multi- Talented Phenomenon is a Pioneer in the Art of what He Terms "Total Poetry" and will publish his 1st Tome enigmatically titled, "Inside Looking Out" this 2013.







To be followed by a humorous collection of Philosophical Quotes all created by him titled, Mental Macaroni - (i.e. Food For Thought).

He was on stage for WORD UP Volume 3 aka Da Love Thang and he gave a very detailed and interesting definition of what Love is. 

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW and see this handsome hunk tell you what Love is all about. :) 

Princeps doing a Spoken Word Poetry piece titled, "Love is,"  at WORD UP Volume 3 aka Da Love Thang which held on February 16, 2013 in Lagos, Nigeria. WORD UP is the biggest Spoken Word Poetry event  in Nigeria. It features A-list Spoken Word Poets on the same stage.

They did it for love.......!!!!

It was a wow experience at WORD UP Volume 3 when the number one Spoken Word Poet in Nigeria, Efe Paul Azino, got on stage with his lovely wife, Osasu, to perform poetry. 

The Spoken Word piece was about love and was so apt for WORD UP Volume 3 aka Da Love Thang.

The couple were a major highlight of the event and got the audience up on their feet all excited.

You need to WATCH THE VIDEO to understand and appreciate all I'm trying to say because words are inadequate.

Efe Paul and Osasu Azino on stage doing a Spoken Word Poetry piece  about "Love"  at WORD UP Volume 3 aka Da Love Thang which held on February 16, 2013 in Lagos, Nigeria. WORD UP is the biggest Spoken Word Poetry event  in Nigeria. It features A-list Spoken Word Poets on the same stage.

Celebrity Poet for #WordUpVol3, Toni Payne, doing a Spoken Word Piece.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN

I met him in the city of angels
Fresh out of school, he was taking a course
His smile so divine, I was glad when he became mine…
Then I let him go…
I should have known it was you
The formal introduction, was so simple
my corporate guy, loved the way he rocked that suit and tie.
The one whose eyes smile when around me
The one who is there when naysayers surround me
I was naive, maybe a bit foolish
I trusted in words was a bit impatient
I should have waited for his next move
As time went by it just happened
Got carried away by the sweet words of another
Now you are gone but definitely not in the arms of another
Your heart now guarded, I sit and ponder
I should have known it was you
Your soft voice when you address me
Your warm touch when you undress me
The taste of your lips, when we kiss
Those are some things I really miss
Sincerity in words and also in action
Compassionate u are, caring, attentive
U wanted the best for me
Supported my hustle
I should have known it was you
But I was carried away,
Carried away by what seemed like a happier life without you.
but I never did find that peace without you
Overtime I began to reason
I saw the truth after many seasons
The sweet words failed me
The promises denied me
Now I’m feeling all alone
Wishing I started my life with you
I know with you I would have a happy home
Though you were never really gone
You kept in touch
But not that much
You let me know that u still cared
I avoided it cos I was scared
Years gone by we meet again
Desire still apparent in your eyes
We sit and talk
You hold my hand
You make me smile
You make me laugh
You kiss my lips
While grabbing my hips
We make sweet love
It feels amazing
You catch me gazing
Thinking to myself
Cud u be back in my life
This journey has been so rife
Cos now I fully realize
In my element I need u
At my best I crave u
With all my soul I respect u
With every breathe I take I love u.
I should have known it was you.
It couldn’t have been anybody but you.