STRIDA BOOK CLUB First Poetry Contest ' WHY DO I WRITE?'

First best five participants.

' WHY DO I WRITE ? '

I think it more of a question, so I decide to answer such question with a poem titled the forerunner.

Title: The Forerunner .

With our porcelain filled to the brim
of fake promises
and our vessels filled with fake news .
I come before the Messiah
to prepare the mind of all earthly exotic end ,
to gather all their worries
and present it to The messiah
in an account called the "poetry writ. "

I am ' Bush the poet',
the john of my time
The one who baptized with words and poetry ,
be at rest
for I know words cannot feed the hungry ,
nor will it build the forth mainland bridge
but I also know poetry is a bridge
over the troubled .
Waters of ignorance ,
I also know that poetry
can be that piece of advise
that leads you to your purpose in life .
Be at rest young champ for the one whose actions
will speaker louder than words will still come .
Await him and spread the good news
that the Messiah still comes .
For he will baptise you with real manifestoes
and fulfilled promises .
That Messiah could be you
or that fair girl sitting beside you.

I am *a forerunner*
and please know this ,
I am not moved by the lavish ,
spending of the young boys into yahoo scam
nor am I scared that their " _oloshoes_ "
will ask my head
in one of their birthday bash.
I am the one who will never be moved
by the pictures of that popular Instagram slay queen,
whose misguided purpose has pushed her
to post online with fake identities .
I know who I am and where I am going too .

*I am bush*
The one whose head would not come off formated.
Neck on a platter of gold, the one whose purpose
he knows
and vow to live it.
Although you can try but please stop all that threats.

I am *not a nonentity*
*I am bush the poet*
The one living in the wild
for the purpose
of spiritual and intellectual development. To fight human right abuses and advocate for a better world to live in. U am the one who feed mostly on locust beans for an heightened Eye sight. The young one who sees ahead of the ' old men' messing up Abuja metropolis.

I am Dammy Bush
The one who will keep on writing even when trees grow fruits of threats and the grass with fear, because as child loves to play with toys so do I love to stain white sheets with ink of ' Truth Saying.'

My Identity Is A Poet.
My purpose is to write my way to the progress of allhhim um hum. ©Dammy Abbey-Bush, 2017.

*Notes* .
_Oloshoes_ : a Yoruba word which literarily means harlot.

' WHY DO I WRITE? '
Whenever people read my poetry,
they get all judgey,
with sounds of....,
are you okay?,
are you alright?,
do you need help?,
I know a psychiatrist,
it's too dark...
Do you want to talk about it?'
But never have they ever
coloured my skies,
with paints aside from grey,
sigh.
Have you ever met a person
battling his depression so much?
For he doesn't know the
cause of the scars
that paints his body are ugly.
No matter how good perfection sounds like,
he knows his is beyond.
Have you ever met a soul searching for peace
but gave up along the way,
befriended his demons
and the chaos carried along by it?
They spend so much time together,
not playing in the rain
but destroying in the rain?
Have you ever crossed a beggar,
nudging at your legs,
for a bite or a shilling?
Not much
but just one,
and you just threw your arm around,
like a sinner from heaven?
Have you ever been alone
with nothing else but your razors
and your blood is asking out?
Just because it dreads every other vessel,
its courses?
Well,
that is why I write,
I write for many
battling with thoughts
that doesn't seem to give them peace.
Not just peace
because they feel like
they are already lost,
they fight.
I write for the many
that are slowly dying in silence,
their failure is screaming out loud.
Those who are invisible
to us, I  write to;
show them they aren't alone,
they have someone else,
who'll not judge,
who'll listen to every call, no matter how hard it gets,
like life is every other test,l
and with each pull for breath,
they take in more water,
drowning a little bit more
with each passing second,
I write for ;
the many that are bound by chains,
that seem not to ever break,
the many that have those voices in their heads, tormenting them every night.
I write for those who stay up late till one a.m.,
breaking down after pulling off the mask of perfection,
at two a.m. when the depression kicks in
and anxiety holds them captive.
They wonder if they'll live to see
their dreams achieved
while sometimes,
making it that far
is like playing juggle with fire,
I write for those whose voices during these times
can't penetrate through the pillows they hug so tight,
flooding with tears
because words seem meaningless.
I write for those who are still awake at three a.m.
when insomnia dips them in the bowl of frustrations,
the ones who can't sleep at four a.m.
because the voices are now screaming out loud.
The demons are then dancing
on her kitchen table,
playing her sad songs she learnt in her childhood.
I write for those whose voices are silenced
and their throats are slit.
I write for the broken,
I write for the pained,
I write for the forsaken,
I write for the tormented,
I am one of those people, I  know,
and I  will write as long as I breathe.
I will write until these words drag me to my grave,
crisp and cold,
alone and lonely.
I will write...
Not necessarily to be amongst your best writers
of constant rhythm and poetry,
but at least I'm amongst the sad ones you know.
Broken crayons still colour the same,aye?
And I'll try so much,
I'll try so damn much,
that the saddest word
you know,
won't be my name.

*EMILY MILLERN* & XgambinoX.

Mugambi.Millern.Word
(Written while listening to Invisible by Skylar Grey).

WHY DO I WRITE...

In the midst of dust,
words toil and mourn
for men of infidelity,
for women in chaos,
for kids in agony,
for humanity in tears...
Lo' to sieve off the needles
from the nocturnal milk cup
makes me write hell out.
This day and evermore.

Author Kelly JUUZ.

' WHY DO I WRITE '

For so many reasons I write,
I write to write right,
I write to outlive my existence,
I write to stay in heart with my amazing art
after my extinction,
I write to gyrate round the circle of art,
I write to square the circle,
to defeat a great Penner,
I write to gag out opulent words,
velvet to hear and see.

I write to itch out beautiful angelic lines,
superfluous to be heard,
for the in unseen, yet large.
 
I write to sentence spirited words to man,
anguishing from thoughts and faded lines,
tapping lines and rhymes from different reservoirs.

I write to set ablaze battlefields,
they look like a volcano about to erupt.

Ismail Junaid Oluwadamilare.
Paciolo Pen Saint.
(Supervisor of STRIDA BOOK Club).

' WHY DO I WRITE?'

Something tickles my mind
but the gone I can't rewind.
Not every ink is kind,
just let it go behind.
Let not my ideas be taken by wind,
stop the world from being blind.

From the unknown passage of rite
to the writing Lite.
Keeping it white,
hopping for the light.
Swiping the wrong ,
making a happy song,
sounding from left to right.
Read day and night,
making it clear why I write.

From my line, art is my voice...
Writing is my choice,
to educate the society,
sporting out the calamity,
lightening unity.
Penning my humanity,
full of humility.
Despite the hot humidity

Artyst Msafih Poetics,
playing with lyrics,
forming the lyrical wizard,
trying not be word hazard.
Spying out the evil lizard,
cheering the hearts,
leaving no hurts
from the word cuts.

Why am I writing?
Many are asking,
what is my thinking?
I heard them whispering
my life story to narrate. That they may relate
before my time is late,
never to forget.
Entertainment to get
from my sunrise to sunset
tunes to my radio set.

From that time
when I was young it was not mine.
Only past two zero zero nine
when my writing started to shine.
Even can go without dinning,
thinking, my pen's inking
and the words to drink
within my eyes blink
and heart sink.
Keeping my head thinking.
What will they be reading?
Find out why I write,
follow my writings
on my social sites
to blaze up your sight.

Artyst msafih poetics,
coming up with lyrics,
ready for critics.
Inspiring me to write
and type.
Hash tag Why I write
forever.
Even with fever
God grands me favor.

Artyst Msafih Poetics.
(Graphics Designer and Artist of STRIDA BOOK CLUB.)