Art by Laura H. Rubbin

The World is heavy with bad news. I have been afraid, sad, and overwhelmed but I realized my father would want me to choose hope, he would want me to focus on him and surrender. This is just me making sense of a prayer Abba taught us himself. I saw Iyanu Adebiyi do it on her Instagram stories. So,

Here is my version of the lord's prayer

My father
who sits warmly above me
Your holiness purifies my tongue
as I call out your name.
I am here, in this temporal place you have created for me.

 I am learning to twist this place
into a divine blueprint to reflect your
heavenly intentions
To make it as conducive as your
glowing abode
So that I can call you in for a feast
 Fill my belly just enough for me to run out and run to you in split seconds
Needing and yearning from your abundance.

Father this girl is demanding
Asking that you hurry up with the dough
Because the bakeries here choose to
Feed me stone
I am hungry, fill me.

Blot away my red spots
Do not let my sin fix the weight of
The World on my chest
Father, take this filth and make it favor
I will peel off my resentment
And make room for reconciliation
I will not let the heat of my anger burn my
Neighbors skin
I will not be intrusive or call their dermis darkness

Father
My body is orgasmic at the sight
Of things that will destroy me
The path I have chosen is coy
My legs firmly planted in the fields of
Desire and I devour with gluttony everything that crosses my path
Drag me out of this route
Lead me out of this temptation
Father my soul wants to fall
Catch it with light
Save me from the dubiousness
 of bad intentions
Deliver me from all Evil

And when this girl is clean
She will get accustomed to the
The infinitive landmark of your abode
The grandiose of your existence
The reign of your majesty
And she will know truly
That yours is the kingdom
The power and the glory
Till the end of all days


Read the actual lords prayer here.
I encourage you to do this, take any part of the Bible and personalize it, you can start with the Lord's prayer. Leave me a comment and you can even email me your version.
Stay safe and stay prayed up.

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Welcome to today’s episode of I have come to judge you. but before I start. let me just beg you to stay safe this Coronavirus period.

I would have done a proper research on this Corona thing for you but I watched a video of people dying in Italy, it was as if the god of death had summoned them for altar call so  I decided to leave it for the courageous. I know now the reason God drove me to the Arts because Lord! Medicine is not for the faint-hearted. Shout out to Doctors all over the world.

Now please while we are confined to our homes what are you doing with your time. I hope you are not becoming a couch potato or a bed warmer. I hope Netflix is not the only thing you are using to chill. I hope you have not become a bedfellow?

Why social distancing affects your time

Remember a time you said you wanted to do a lot of things but your excuse was  ‘’I don’t have time’’  now that you have all the time what have you achieved. The human brain, I think loves to adapt and rest. So there is a hundred percent chance you will come out of this social distancing period valueless.
Yes, I know the world is going through a pandemic and you are allowed to panic be a couch potato.  This post, however, is for people who want to be productive while social distancing.

Social distancing strategies to employ 

This blog post is for you and me don’t worry. I told this hard truth to myself as well. I now understand that in this life you will never have time for anything, rather you create time for everything. Think about it, when you were working or going to school, you were even more productive. You created time for Important things. Right now you have a lot of time you did not ask for or create.

Think for a moment what have you with it.  Yes, 2020 has been crazy. Nobody asked for it but now that we are here please utilize it.

You will be here people will come out of this period with their published books, released songs or they would have done something instrumental to the fulfillment of their purpose and aspirations.

For students like me, you will hear all your friends shouting ‘’I am bored’’  #sleeping all day. I laugh, it is not that your friends or mine are deceivers, Just know that most of them are coming out of this Corona break with finished course outlines and finished textbooks. Don’t play yourself. Read.

If there is anything I love and hate about our generation. It is that we have so much knowledge but we lack wisdom. This is a wake-up call, use this time and discover your passion, your forte, etc. I am not even limiting this to talent.

Explore the things you never thought possible. Start to do them. Time flies, we are already in April and before you say jack Robinson this break will be over even if it is for 3 months.

I am not an expert at dishing Advice but I just thought it wise to tell you that not everybody is resting this period some of us are thinking and doing. See, it's social distancing not an avenue for time-wasting. It is quarantine, not an avenue to waste your time.

Set social distancing goals 

Stand up! I don’t know about you but one of my goals is to come out of this Isolation period with the weight I used to Enter it, so its little progress but I skip at least thrice a week. You are my community so I shared this with you, just to tell you that you can choose anything. It can be working on your speech or learning how to laugh more.

Make a lifestyle change while social distancing 

Tell me any new progress or lifestyle change you have made this period. It doesn't have to be drastic. It is the little things because I want you to make it a Habit. You could decide to read 2 pages of your novel or school book a day or practice one skill you are bad at. It could be anything really.

 Since stores are not open you can visit my post on Why you should not +reading habits and mediums for  Ebook ideas

I just don’t want you to come out of COVID_19  worse than you were when you got in. it was during the ASUU STRIKE in 2018 that I realized that writing is what I will do long term. It was also the year. I wrote the most and won most of my writing awards. In periods of isolation, discoveries are made.

Sometimes isolation allows God to mold you into a person fit for his purpose.  It is not punishment it is preparation - Bishop Td Jakes.

Here is my poem for you. To remind you of who you are.

Dear reader,
Have you looked at your palms?
How the lines grace it
crossing and crossing
Like tiny branches on a tree

Reader
Look at it now
Do you know nothing can break these lines
Even when your palm is broken?
Reader
Divinity drew these lines and
Only divinity can erase it

Reader, we are like lines drawn
on the palm of this world
And though the world be broken
We must make our mark
We must still cross parts
We must bind ourselves
together till we bond
We must be visible

 Reader only divinity can erase us
Not sickness, not weakness,
Not an infant virus
You are too visible to vanish
Too important to be impoverished

But reader
Dormant  lines do not lead to any path
Dormant lines are useless to a broken palm
Reader
I don't have many words for you
But I  know the universe expels uselessness
And the palm is hollow without its lines
I also know that anything that doesn't
Move is stagnant
 And stagnancy oozes
The World is already oozing don't be
Part of the waste!

And because I love Trevor noah. Watch this 

If you want to read more on coronavirus click THIS it is an article by my very resourceful friend Nwokpor Collins. It's all you need to know. 

NSPP 2020 EDITION 

DEADLINE: March 31st, 2020 

The Nigerian student's poetry prize is an initiative of Poets in Nigeria (PIN) aimed at stimulating literary creativity and encouraging critical thinking among Nigerian undergraduates. Since its inception in 2016 at the University of Ibadan, the prize has received about 2500 entries from students representing over 100 tertiary institutions (including universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, schools of nursing and seminary schools).

10 REASONS TO APPLY FOR THE NIGERIAN STUDENTS POETRY PRIZE

PRIZES 

• 1st Prize – ₦250,000
• 2nd Prize – ₦150,000
• 3rd Prize – ₦100,000
• Consolation Prize – ₦25,000 each for 4th and 5th best entrants 

Image via @unsplash

I write a lot of poetry because poetry is my first love when it comes to writing. I just realized I don't post it here as much.
Disclaimer: My imagination runs wild , sometimes it is calm and collected other times it attempts the impossible and most times, it's just simple and searching.

My inspiration comes at odd times too because I type this in the middle  of a Criminal law class. I am risking my phone being seized so  please Give  me feedback after reading.

 WHO TOLD US THESE THINGS 

i)
That the heart can be broken
This same heart that pumps blood
Through a pipeline of veins
What is capable of leaving this
Powerhouse broken?

ii)
That a man can be snatched by a woman
This Four limbed breathing mammal
 The supposed stronger vessel
How can he be collected like a common purse?

iii)
That we are really humans
We with skin the colour of Earth and sand
We with bones as hard as rocks
We With with hair like leaves and grasses
We with limbs like the roots of an Iroko
We with blood flowing like water!
Who do we think we are?

iii)
That we have a limit to what we can do
How can this be?
When our creator was uncreated
With the audacity to walk on water
And the guts to look death  in the eye
And call it's bluff!
What can even dare to stop us?

Iv)
That we can not exist in multiple places
 Is this true?
When our imagination take trips to the
 Past, present and future at will
 When our memories  can travel to depths
And time flies to ensure we don't dwell too deep
 Who then says we are not omnipotent?

What do you think of this poem? Drop a line or two regarding anything you find absurd or ridiculous. This should be fun.

Hey,so I just thought to document this here, It is an old poem I wrote,the inspiration came from basically watching the sterotypes black girls have to go through and how we are constantly seeking validation for our beauty, then I listened to Dylema's poem "what if a black girl knew "....I just thought to remind all black girls that they are just perfect.

WHAT IF A BLACK GIRL KNEW

 #1

Word of advice for people aspiring to write,  your first draft is not meant to be perfect when I wrote this poem I thought it was the next best thing after maya angelou's Phenomenal woman but looking at it now I can see the flaws , better ways I should have put tenses etc.,I am working on a poem with this same theme and I am encouraged by my growth. So never discard your first draft use it as a reference point and don't beat yourself up, it does not have to be perfect - Roseline Mgbodichinma