A—Gonzaga (Oluchukwu Aloysius–Gonzaga Nwikwu) is a Nigerian–born, Scandinavian–educated essayist, poet and songwriter. Read one of his poems, below.

During the Toffee Past Times

“The trees were squirrels’ land
The fathers were able men
Women were then adored
And the kids were raised at home.

I said “I would wish to live in those days, teacher.”
He said “But we can’t go back, son…
It was nice to share with you though
But those were thoughts of toffee-past times.”

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January

Lone pacer –the vertical leader
With eleven followers – dust calm
Boots from December dusted
Whirlwind of celebrations calm and quiet
Day one in one stroked cage
Better spelt and wide but concise – January

Alibi flame’s flick flake fake rims of dreams
Hope is born and horned to nations of the world
January – mother to resolutions unbidden
Carryover of yester year’s plans and pains
Job uproar and tender pay packets ranched
Merriments subsides – upsides the devotion

Painting green on green-grass and green flags
Tender hearts hopes for a pope’s sprinkle
Hallelujah! – Bad luck aborted – new luck conceived
January, the plenary house of venial creatures

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Nwilo Bura-Bari V (Nwilo Bura-Bari Vincent) is a poet. His literary magazine, Words Not Swords, calls for entries. One poem per entrant and a short story of about 3,000 words. 2,500 max of non fiction – essays and reviews – mail with a brief data about you to wordsnotswords@yahoo.com

Find Words Not Swords on Facebook here.