WELCOME

creation offers the opportunity to take from the table all that we ever need so we can acheive the best we ever dreamed. Thanks for visiting here.

"I confirm the subscription of this blog to the Paperblog service under the username biolaephesus60"

Saturday, January 31, 2015

the dawn and other poems

the dawn


like a shy bride
touched my cheeks
with one soft
golden finger
and dropped
a dewy kiss
time to face
the agony of being alive
in a world wrapped
in the tortured arms
of the Earth.

Wedding anniversary

It’s our wedding anniversary
twenty five years
of smiling at his girlfriends
watching him text all night
smiling pain when
he reaches for me.

His mother watches too
how long I hang on
to him.
A pretence to marital bliss
when all you feel is this
that the neck of the celebratory chicken
may be replaced with his
as sharp as the knife
as keen as your pain

habit or beloved

he said it once
I love you
and will take
care of you
he even signed
the piece of legal nonsense
that made me
his.
Twenty years on
we still sleep two spoons
in the middle of
the bed
holding hands,
but sometimes
I wonder,
am I his habit
or beloved?

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Not fit to Contest

“What do you mean you are withdrawing?”
Babatunde stared,as he tried to make sense of what Adejare was telling him
Adejare shrugged, “You are not exactly deaf my friend. I have no intention of being a reluctant king. If I was the right king , Ifa would not be dropping that bombshell that there was a missing prince. Beside  I have had serious second thoughts. I would like to live abroad and this king business will cramp my style. I can’t be king from abroad you know”
Babatunde sighed and paced his office.

Adejare looked at him from the chair he was sitting in, then he became puzzled, “That really should make it easier, just hand the darn thing over to Adewunmi and he will let go”
Babatunde gave a wry smile, “Adewunmi for your information is considering withdrawing from the race too. He came to see me last night. So I am wondering what type of game this is between the pair of you. First I was offered money but the money turns up in my account , then the government insists on seating in on the selection process and as if that is not enough, you both want to pull out. No can do”
“I don’t get you”

Babatunde returned to the seat and gave Adejare a level stare, “The selection process will go on with the government official sitting in and whoever is selected can jolly well tell the gathering of elders including the whole town that he is turning it down. You will state your reasons to the town and not me, I am just a member”
They stared at each other

Adejare laughed “You can crown an absent king?, I have not the slightest intention to turn up for the next meeting. I have booked my flight, I am taking Ireti to London and there is no force that will stop me. You can arrange your town meeting between now and tomorrow for I am leaving for Lagos as my flight is for midnight tomorrow. Now how are you going to stop me?”
Babatunde gave him a long look and asked abruptly, “You are being threatened by who?”
Adejare stared at him, tried to laugh ,went silent and clenched fists raised to his eyes, “I…” swallowed and made for the door, but Babatunde was quicker and stood barring Adejare with his back to the door. Both men looked at each other Adejare was the first to drop his defiant stance. He slumped back into the chair and covered his eyes with fists, chest heaving.” I am not qualified to contest, my mother pleaded that I should withdraw as she does not want the secret of the missing prince to be disclosed through her, for it will mean death”.

Babatunde went back to his seat, “there really is a missing prince somewhere?”
Adejare simply nodded
“Who is he?”, Babatunde pressed
“She would not tell me, but knelt and begged me that what Ifa said was true and she begged that if I went ahead and contested, she could not imagine the consequences”
“Fine time for her to beg you to cry off, but for Adewunmi, you would be about finishing the rites to being crowned”
“I told her that and she said I would have been dead before I could walk into the palace, later an old man came to visit her late at night, she wouldn’t tell me who the person was but she became really frightened after that visit and refused all entreaties to speak except to tell me to save her life and not be a contestant”
“ Is there a reason to suspect that you may not have been what you have portrayed yourself to be? I am tired of all these mysteries”
Adejare bristled and glared, “What exactly are you suggesting?”
Babatunde gave him a cold stare, “Is there a deeper reason that we may have been deceived into thinking you had a right to be king?”

Adejare was enraged and stood up glaring, then he growled deep in his throat moving towards Babatunde who gave the same growl. At the same time they moved towards each other. Somebody knocked on the door and the men froze. There was puzzled pain in Adejare’s voice, “I have never done that before.” Babatunde uncurled his fists and he was puzzled too.
The door opened and Babatunde’s father stared at the two men. “What is going on here?”
Babatunde frowned, “What do you mean Papa? I was having a chat with Adejare”

Babatunde’s father gave both of them a close look and they returned his questioning look a blank stare. He sighed and walked out of the room.

Ephesus: Being Grammarly correct

Ephesus: Being Grammarly correct

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Friday, January 9, 2015

Being Grammarly correct

I never liked new year resolutions. I have never kept one nor even remembered them. So I am not making one now. I am getting on in age so why start a bad habit now? Remember that saying that it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind? No I am not talking about resolutions.. er I am really and it is not in the new year.. why don’t you let me finish my sentence? Okay, I decided sometime back to come here rarely, because I felt I was not getting anywhere.. well I got somewhere and seem to be dancing on one foot like the masquerade in the market square after we all had gone to bed. I am sighing because I am getting bored reading me so I can imagine you might have decided to flip.. er if you happen to be still scratching your head wondering if I had taken the wrong bottle of drink..okay… okay I am going to be maintaining my two blogs from now on. Phew! Talk about rambling.
I would still post to my blogspot because I have the best reasons to continue to do that. First I met some of my best friends here and I feel bad that I took off elsewhere. I have made friends from this blogspot too so I am remorseful that I seem to have left my favourite spots and .. I really don’t need to make a confession do I?

I learnt about writing, being good at it and oh yes being grammarly correct . Grammarly? It is a story I like to tell. Some of us have the English language as a second language or even a third. Grammar becomes a very important part of communication and you know, ability to write and speak well does affect our economic standing.
So my first outing this month and year will be about grammar or as I have said elsewhere, being grammarly correct.

I get teased a lot for my grammar compulsion. Misplaced apostrophes distract me from the content of written communication, and double negatives instantly downgrade my estimation of the person speaking. I have tried, but these things bother me. It’s no secret: I think grammar is important.
I participate in two critique groups for writers. A new writer came to one of those groups recently. His story featured a dystopian society with teenage protagonists, and something significant was about to happen. Dystopias are popular especially among young adult readers, and his premise was interesting, but reading his submission with an eye critical to style was painful. It took me nearly an hour to agonize my way though his ten double-spaced pages. The biggest problem was not his story. It was his grammar.
He committed the usual subject-verb agreement crimes. He butchered his sentences with improper punctuation. Malapropisms peppered every page. Sentence fragments. Ridiculous imagery completed the ghastly picture he painted with his words. He probably has a good story to tell, but until he learns to tell it in plain – and correct – language, he won’t be telling it to much of an audience.
I suggested that he use a grammar checker. Grammarly’s free online grammar checker is a good one. It’s fun to play with, and it’s educational to boot. Anyone who seriously wants to write well can benefit from a grammar checker.
Plain, understandable language lets us communicate succinctly and clearly. The better people communicate, the more likely they are to get what they want and to understand what others want from them. Skilled communicators are more likely to persuade others. Good, clear language reduces misunderstandings.
 Why don’t you do what I did? Check the fellows out at this link http://www.grammarly.com/grammarcheck">Grammarly
>
I will see you soon, okay You will read from me soon