Special Feature: Kukogho Iruesiri Samson, Author of 'I SAID THESE WORDS' and Founder of WRR

SHE IS NOT PERFECT

She is not perfect
But her eyes stole the colours of rainbow
They light up my skies on happy days
Parabolic beauty beyond compare

She is not perfect
But the melody of her voice
Calms the taut nerves of my heart
And sings my soul to sleep 

She is not perfect
But her lips are softer than butter
And firm is the roundness
Of the swells on her chest 

She is not perfect
So when I frown my face
As she walks by, do not smile
She'll soon be in my arms 

She is not perfect
But our hearts are one
The osmosis of love
Made it so 

She is not perfect
But I will sow my seed in her
And nurture her fruits
To perfect ripeness 

She is not perfect
And will never be
But who is perfect?
Not you, not me 

SHACKLED PRETENCE

is this independence
or shackled pretence?
is there really freedom
in this Niger Kingdom?

are we not yet slaves
dying, falling into graves
dug by the hands of those
who fart into Nigeria's nose

as green browns
in villages and towns
and our white turns red
Jona bakes election bread
...
are we free from hate
is there food in the plate
is Musa a free man in Aba
is Johnson smiling in Bama

who is free?
do your eyes see
beyond his mosque
her church, ethnic husk?

is this independence
or shackled pretence?
is there really freedom
in this Niger Kingdom?

* Both poems are culled from Kukogho Samson's latest poetry collection, 'I SAID THESE WORDS'.

Biography

KUKOGHO IRUESIRI SAMSON is a Nigerian poet, multimedia journalist, photographer, and sociopreneur. He is CEO of WORDS RHYMES & RHYTHM LTD, a publishing and social reorientation poetry organization which owns – WRRPOETRY, Nigeria’s largest poetry sharing platform; WRR COLLEGE OF POETRY, Nigeria’s only online poetry college, and AUTHORPEDIA, Nigeria’s only free author resource website.

Kukogho has authored two collections of poems ‘WHAT CAN WORDS DO?’ and ‘I SAID THESE WORDS’. He has also initiated several projects, like the ‘WRR #YouthENGAGE’ project, ‘BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST’ and the ‘WRR-CAPRECON GREEN AUTHOR PRIZE’, with the aim of giving young Nigerian writers a voice and using literature for social advocacy and youth development. In his spare time, he photographs the ordinary parts of Lagos for his @CandidLAGOS project.