KINGMAKERS FROM THE NORTH

The head is fallen
And the neck laughs in mockery
The hand picks the nose
And laughs at the crying mouth
The wind has not blown
And the roots of the tree are all cut
We search for the medicine man
who have all the solution in his hand

'We pray you, come tell us
What did the gods say about our land?'
Trouble looms
And it drags us in our scrotum
We can't breath nor can we sit
We close our eyes to sleep and death stares us in the face
We open our eyes to see a reality with menacing claws

Where are those the gods ordained to lead us through this mess?
The rainmaker has grown fat on our chicken and sacrificial goats,
Then he turn and cry that he no longer
See the face of the gods
We wait in vain with our buckets bare,
Dried of the last drop of liquid from eons ago
Our thirst is that of survival
Not that of comfort-

Nnaonwu where are you?
The most revered medicine man
of the days of our forefathers,
who would come with his bag dangling by his side,
He would dip his hand and bring out his offor...
A knock here and there and
An a long age incantation,
Pregnant with the most selfless supplication
And the gods would answer him
Nnaonwu would peer into his divination calabash
And pictures would be painted for him,
From the past and to the future...
Of the men the gods has chosen for us

Now, we sing a dirge
A celebratory dirge
For we have grown accustomed to
living with the pain in our scrotum
And this pain has become a daily comfort
We weren't greeted with the wise men in red caps
Being led by the great medicine man
Rather we see few whose stomach are
protruded from eating that which belongs to us all
When they dipped hand inside their bags,
We thought,

'Here comes our salvation' but
They had brought lies to feed us with
They have come to tell us
that which we dread
Kingmakers from the
North and here they present
to us our next king

A man who is merely on a walk,
Pretending we are all following
Things has fallen apart
ergo this center will never hold again.


Enwerem Chukwuka

April 19

Today's Episode: ( CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE)

Is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida fashioned the face.

It was constructed between 1922 and 1931.

It was sculptured with soapstone.
The statue is 30 metres (98 ft) high, excluding its 8-metre (26 ft) pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres (92 ft) wide.


 Inaugurated on October 12, 1931, during the festivities of Nossa Senhora Aparecida.
Consecrated October 12, 2006..

Inducted in the New Seven Wonders of the World July 7, 2007.

Elected one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, in an open survey released in July 2007, Christ the Redeemer is the largest Art Deco statue in the world.

It is one of the most known and visited tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.


Its hands and head are the only parts of Christ the Redeemer that weren’t built in Brazil. They were shaped in Paris. The statue’s body is made entirely of soapstone, cut into triangles, glued by hand in a fabric and applied in the structure made of reinforced concrete. The monument is made to withstand winds of up to 250 km per hour.


Enwerem Chukwuka
April 16

HOW THE MEDIEVAL SOCIETAL CONDITIONING OF WOMEN AS PICKERS PUT THEM AT A FATAL DISADVANTAGE

The role of women as pickers while men play the courtier has more often hurt women than it has offered them the glamour we imagine. We often see a man and a woman in a relationship that we wonder how it happened. How a highly rated woman ended up with a seemingly less deserving male. We ask how such a man was able to trap such a woman in his life. But is the answer as far fetched as we make them appear?

It has been said that stupid men are full of confidence while the intelligent ones sleep with doubt as their partner. I always hear that a fearful man can not have a beautiful woman for a wife and even if he manages to trap her down with money or any other thing, stands a chance of losing her to a braver man.

Women likes to be courted. They like to be desired, to be wanted, to have someone dying for them and many so called foolish men are ready to do all these. They do it without reservation and tomorrow, they manage to end up with women we wonder how in the world they got them.

But, this is to the disadvantage of women. They have been programmed to see themselves as pickers. The average African woman is beautiful. She knew it and everybody else does. One day, she stands before the mirror, fully unclad and gaze with awe at the impossible body that belongs to her. This is just of the physical; she has her character, her inner beauty and the default loving and caring ability of a mother. She is what every man desires. So she smiles, sits back and crosses her leg. A hundred men would come and all she has to do is, point at one and that one instantly belongs to her.

Now, this is supposed to be an enviable life. But is it really as glamorous as it appears? It's like going to a restaurant and you're giving their menu. It contains lists and lists of dishes. For a minute, you're flattered at this idea of being spoiled for choice. You gaze and gaze and gaze at this seemingly endless list. But along the line, you realize that the meal you really wanted isn't in this list and then the reality of the illusion of choice begins to dawn on you.

You're limited by options, regardless of how long the list is. It may contain every other meal but the moment the one you truly want isn't there and you are obliged to chose from what is available, you've been put at a fatal disadvantage. This is the position of the average African woman. She has been told she must pick. She can not be a seeker. The men are seekers and the chances of the man she really want coming for her is very slim. Since she can't really walk up to this man, what she does is pray and hope he joins the queue of those asking for the favour of having her in their lives.

She don't have to make a pick. She can just relax after all, she is very beautiful and everybody want her. But along the line, she gets tired of giving the man she want signs, because the he-idiot isn't helping matter. What does she do? She checks on the people waiting on her and pick one man. She turns and lies to her conscience that she loves this one. It's always easy, all she had to do is lie to the world too that this is the man her heart was after. Then, tomorrow, when nothing is working, the world will turn and ask, how such a woman ended up with such a man? Is it rocket science?

In the end, the man gets who he wants. The woman gets who want her. It's a lose-lose situation for her.

Enwerem Chukwuka
Lagos