One For A Roll
Baba Tunde –
If your table is dropping with bottle
If your table is about going empty
Just ask for another ‘one for a roll’.

In case you have speaking drums in your head
and you want them to speak to the gods,
ask for another ‘one for a roll’.

In case you don’t get tired
and the beer in your wretched stomach is not satisfying
and even when your pocket is empty
don’t forget to ask for another ‘one for a roll’.

Then if you begin to hear voices speaking
just remember that the bottles are speaking
Or they are singing
But don’t tell your wife that you drank more than I told you
I only asked you to drink ‘one’ for a roll.

Actor In My Cat
This is what happened that night
and it happens everyday whenever I’m stupid.

She will sit right in front of me
licking her paws like I do lick my candy
her gray eyes are alluring, but I bind it in Jesus name!

When I’m taking more time than expected,
she will say, “He’s selfish and self-centered”.
And when I’m lost in my writing, she will yawn:
“Come on, come here and give me some pat. Am
I not your baby? Don’t be selfish!”

Her eyes are talking drum of my father,
and her claws can paint a world out.

If I’m still writing, then she have to do it
herself. “Selfish!” She will walk straight and
sit on my laptop and glower at me.

She have succeeded! Then I stop my work and start my work.

Seven Jars Of Palm Wine
Seven jars of palm wine, please!
That’s how he ordered it, as if he knows
the size of his sagging belly.

Another jars, please!
And Madam Ask-For-More hugged
the tray of seven glasses of toddy
with a hissing head of foam.

I think he’s done, and now his legs
are dancing Azonto and Shaku-Shaku.

Oh, he drives his car with that body
full of alcohol that can keep a bar running for
two days! He hung his paunch over his belt,
and the road he drives on are now filled with
rivers.

Let him not plunge in for a swim!

Blessing C. Onyekachi is a novelist, poet and short-story writer. He hails from Ahiazu Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria. Onyekachi obtained his National Diploma in Science Laboratory Technology from Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Nigeria, and he’s currently studying for Higher National Diploma in Microbiology. He’s currently working on a fantasy novel. His work has appeared in River Bird Magazine, Writenow Magazine and elsewhere. You can find him on twitter and Instagram (@BlessingCOnyek1 / @blessing c.onyekachi).