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Lagos, Nigeria
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Favorite Quote“What thou resolvest to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish - UNTO THEE I GRANT ” |
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Sex | male | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite Poets | John Donne, Andrew Marvell, J. P. Clark, Niyi Osindare, Chritopher Okigbo, Chaucer, William Shakespeare, etc | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite Authors | Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, D. H. Lawrence, Femi Osofisan, John Donne, Andrew marvell, Kwesi Brew, etc | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Greatest Influence | Ola Rotimi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| About me | I was Born at Q.I.C. Hospital in Etinan, had my primary education at salvation Army School, Ikot Ebo/Ikot Ebiyak & secondary education at Etinan Institute. I obtained B.A. Theatre Arts and M. A. English Studies from University of Port Harcourt. I am also an Alumnus of Lagos Business School, Pan African University. I worked with Nigerian Ports Authority, A D C Airlines and now with Capital Airlines. I am married to Alison and we have four children. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recent Work
My bookshelf This member hasn’t yet published to their bookshelf. |
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Silent Drama on Virtues and Vices
SILENT DRAMA ON VIRTUES AND VICES (sketch)
(The Narrator is off stage speaking through a microphone)
Take heed of the benefits of virtues and beware of the repercussions of vices. Let us reflect on the characteristics of each and choose aright.
(Each virtue walks in with opposing vice)
TRUTH
Truth is that which is real to us. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; It is the daughter of time, the eternal years of God are hers. An eternal truth is but an appearance of reality behind which man has not yet been able to detect change.
FALSEHOOD
Falsehood is the practice of telling lies. Let not thy statement be untrue and thy way full of deceits. The surest way to be deceived is to think one’s self more clever than others. Only those who fear truth lie.
TOLERANCE
Tolerance is an attitude which preserves individualism without jeopardizing the welfare of a whole. It measures the degree to which we can suffer pain and difficulty without being harmed. It is our willingness to allow people do, say and believe what they want without condemning them.
INTOLERANCE
Intolerance is our unwillingness to accommodate others. . No man can be honest in his convictions who has not first explored the possibility of an opposite view. Intolerance is the destroyer of peace. It breeds chaos, disintegration and death.
HONOUR
Honour is the inner garment of the soul; the first thing put on by it with flesh and the last it lays down at its separation from it. Fine nobility resideth not but in the soul; nor is there true honour except in goodness. Pursue that which is honourable, do that which is right; and the applause of thine own conscience will be more to thee, than the shout of millions who know not that thou deservest them.
DISHONOUR
Dishonour brings disgrace and loss of respect. It is honour which thou directest to wrong purposes. It shameth and destroyeth thee.
JUSTICE
The peace of society depends on justice; keep the desires of thy heart, therefore within the bounds of moderation; let the hand of justice lead them aright. In thy dealings with men, be impartial and just, and do unto them as thou wouldst they should do unto thee.
INJUSTICE
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it. O son of society! Examine thy heart, call remembrance to thy aid, and if in any of thy dealings, thou findest thou hast transgressed, take sorrow and shame to thyself, and make speedy reparation to the utmost of thy power.
TEMPERANCE
Temperance is sensible control of the things you do and say. It is not only the practice of never drinking alcohol for moral or religious reasons. The nearest approach thou canst make happiness is to enjoy from heaven understanding and health. These blessing if thou possess and wouldst preserve to old age, avoid the allurement of voluptuousness, and fly from her temptations.
INDULGENCE
Indulgence of this kind has other names in extravagance, extremism and gluttony. Heed not its luring and passionate call for pleasure, moderation is the watch word and thy path, the middle. Take note, brothers and sisters. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
HONESTY
Honesty is not only when you do not lie or steal, it is also saying that which is true. O thou who art enamoured with the beauties of truth blush at falsehood, and is confounded, but in speaking the truth he hath steady eyes. An honest man is the noblest work of God.
DISHONESTY
Dishonesty is the twin brother of inaccuracy; He who lies is also a thief, for has he not stolen another’s trust in his words? The heart of the hypocrite is laid in his breast; he makes his words in the semblance of truth, while the business of his life is only to deceive.
FORTITUDE
Fortitude behooves thee therefore, O child of calamity, early to fortify thy mind with courage and patience, that thou mayest support, with a becoming resolution thy allotted portion of human evil. As a rock on the seashore he stands firm and the dashing of the waves disturb him not.
WEAKNESS
Vain and inconstant if thou art, how canst but be weak? Is not inconstancy connected with frailty? Can there be vanity without infirmity? Avoid the danger of the one, and thou shall escape the mischief of the other.
MORALITY
Morality constitutes the beliefs or ideas about what is right and wrong and about how people should behave. Morality measures the degree to which something is right or acceptable. Moral sense is the way in which we regard the relation of self to our environment.
IMMORALITY
Immorality is the violation of accepted standards of moral behaviour. It reflects the state of corruption. It is sin against God and man.
CHASTITY
Chastity states the innocence of immoral sexual intercourse. The woman who is chaste, is she not praised? The man who is honest, deserveth he not to be honoured? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
LUST
Beware young man, beware of the allurement of wantonness and let not the harlot tempt thee to excess in her delights. The madness of desire shall defeat its own pursuits; from the blindness of its rage thou shalt rush upon destruction.
DUTY
Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. Lost time is never found again. In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty The only way to enjoy rest is to work for it. Duty is the crown, and the expression of virtues that are around us now. Its idealism is in service to humanity.
(Pause)
(All virtues come together and form a circle while all vices make early exits)
Brothers and sisters embrace that which is desirable and flee from all vices
:)
I’ve added you to my buddy list, now you can add me to your’s if you’d like! Best wishes to you!
~Remember me for my love of blood, not my hatred of death.~
?
Wasn’t Lagos once Nigeria’s capital? That place sounds so very familiar and I think it’s from learning about the culture in Western African countries…
~Remember me for my love of blood, not my hatred of death.~
Yes
Lagos was the capital of Nigeria before it was moved to Abuja, ‘the centre that unifies’.
mm we can be virtuous people with differerent virtues
TRUTH
Truth is that which is real to us. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; It is the daughter of time, the eternal years of God are hers. An eternal truth is but an appearance of reality behind which man has not yet been able to detect change.
NOT YET
FALSEHOOD
Falsehood is the practice of telling lies. Let not thy statement be untrue and thy way full of deceits. The surest way to be deceived is to think one’s self more clever than others. Only those who fear truth lie.
OH SO TRUE
TOLERANCE
Tolerance is an attitude which preserves individualism without jeopardizing the welfare of a whole. It measures the degree to which we can suffer pain and difficulty without being harmed. It is our willingness to allow people do, say and believe what they want without condemning them.
ONLY THE LAST SENTENCE DO I ARGUE WITH, WOULD YOU CONDONE FEMALE CIRCUMSICION?
I am not going to dissect your poem with every difference in values we have, let me just say I respect you as a poet who is not afraid to state their values.
Some of them I fight you to death about, but will do it with honour,
cheers
Jesss
Pyramid fete
Jess
I wrote this drama sketch for a youth movement known as Light Bearers Association during a conclave which celebrated ‘Pyramid of ideals’. I remarked that if these virtues are seen in one man, then we can rightly say that God has come down to live amongst men. It may be hard to attain the peak of some of them, but it calls for an evolutionary journey towards mastery and perfection especially in a society so dense with corruption as ours where in most places right-doing is an aberreation and wrong-doing the norm.
Our society has a mixture circumcised and non circumcised women. This spread along the west coast of Africa. There has been a campaign against this practice; some women argue for and some against it, do men. I do not support this practice for the reasons given to it, which has to do with the control of sexual urgue and the health hazard it poses. At the same time I will not fight anybody who does it. Best wishes.
Iboro
It might interest you to read a poem from a friend I met in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Dr. Babajigida, ‘THE BONDO’. I promised to publish her poems one day and she gave me some of her works. I have not been able to do that yet, so this is an opportunity to share it with you. Enjoy.
THE BONDO
1
Young and untouched
Pure and unspoiled
Great bushes in the forest
The secret society is:
The school – the Bondo
Young maidens are incised
Through cherished ancient rites
In search for equality of the sexes
Its thunderous sounds of sangbah drums
Of “Aen samboni” drums and Segureh’s
Of numerous empty cups and human shrieks
All combine as the drowning noise
To shroud and drown painful secret rites
From the outside world in its follies
In it superficial and bottled up worries
11
Months of absence in the great forest
The young maidens are badly missed
Remember in ancient days it was years of absence
Through oral wisdom and knowledge
The subjects midwifery and of cookery
Of housekeeping, of herbals training
Of “Sampa” dancing, of woman’s submission to men
Of fashion design and sewing
Of living with their ancestral gods
111
At graduation
It’s parade of the virgins up front
The others follow
In songs composed in the society’s success
In matching fashion of ashoebi
In gorgeous textile of colors
That surpasses the peacock’s
They celebrate in raw pride
That surpasses the peacock’s
Former graduates too dance
In comedy display in high gear
What with ingredients of great menu
Of cassava and potato leaves and alcohol
It’s high theater
They tell some to the world all
1V
In throbbing enticing music
Of “aen samboni” and “samgbai bondo” drums
Of beaded segureh’s
Of numerous voices in song’s harmony
They dace with the graduates
In street entertainment
The graduates play coy, prim and proper
With tarred colors skins beautifully aglow
With help from perfumed burnt African palm oil
They’ve also bejeweled in finest jewellery of gold in filigree et el
They are girdled in multi-colored beads
And robed in African “ya-ra-sah” raffia skirts
With calabash breasts aglow
And standing like fruits of the coco-nut tree
They walk in great graduate gaits
This scenario is the society best publicity
V
They dance
With masked raffia flowing bondo dancers
They’ve been led by their mighty spirits
Some future aspirants tag at the tail of the dance
Truly a mini carnival at it’s best
Leaving forever in one’s memory
The catch phrase of: “Ah-yeah Joe Ah-yeah Joe!”
Dr Princess Baba Jigida
Hey! You're a mentor!
Don’t know when that happened, but congrats all the same. As our dear friend Ronda would say: “welcome to the ranks! Now give me 50!” LOL.
~Jess K.
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“Johnny was a chemist’s son, but Johnny is no more. What Johnny thought was H2O, was really H2SO4….”
Thank you
Jess K.
Yes, this happened some weeks back. I have introduced quite a handful to the site and some of them are very good poets. I pray to live up to the title and rank. Best wishes.
T.
What?
What is female circumcision? How is that accomplished?
D
You...?
You mean, you have not heard of the partial or total removal of the clitoris? There are reasons advanced for its practice, but I do not agree with the practice.
It is raw blade on the skin.
T.
NO
Hello T are you there is this a subject that you refer not to expound upon?
Well...?
I do not know your sex and I am not sure how you will handle naked truth.
T.
T
T
DoCollier
Can you use the pm mode?