Back in 2010 as a member of the Seaview Poetry Club, I got to perform spoken word poetry on the radio every Tuesday morning on Rhythm 93.7FM Port Harcourt. Even when she had classes in school, my wife (friend at the time), Soibi would often listen to me on her earpiece and tell me how much she loved my poems.
When we started dating, I promised her I would write poems about her. I wrote a couple of poems back in the day but somehow lost my muse and couldn’t find the words amid the hustle and bustle of life.
More than ten years after my radio poetry days, we tied the knot and although I’m not a Lannister, I am determined to pay my debt to her for all the years of not writing and reading beautiful poems to her every morning. She deserves it and much more for all the love, happiness, and beauty she has brought into my life.
I love you Soibi-ilate Wikina, and I hope these poems make you smile.
No!
Don’t you know?
NO VACANCY
Yes, there is no vacancy
No vacancy for texts
I can write those sweet words all by myself
No vacancy for hugs
Only one person can make my heart jog
No vacancy for kisses
My love is in the South, and it’s only me he misses
No vacancy for fake smiles
Can’t wait to see him after a while
No vacancy on my finger
My ring would not linger
No vacancy
I’m occupied, can’t you see?
-----
Wrote this in 2019 just before Soibi went to NYSC. She said it was inspired by fear, but well... what can I say? Lol
MY VOW
As far as the sky from the ground
As deep as the ocean’s floor
That’s how deep and wide I promise to love you
I will comb your hair
Pull down your zipper
Lace your canvas and hold your hands
I want us to grow old together
Conquering nations and living our forever
I want to fill you with my love
Drown you with my affection
Embrace you with my attention
I want forever with you
All with you
Today Tomorrow Forever
-----
I read my vow to Soibi during our honeymoon in 2021 and I hope to keep it till the day our walk is finished here on earth.
Dear Seamstress
DEAR SEAMSTRESS
You don’t seem stressed
All day, you’ve been sewing your dreams together
It’s ten minutes past midnight
And now you’ve started sewing another
Dear Seamstress
You don’t seem stressed
You’ve treaded the dark and lonely path
You’re knitting hopes and a future bright
The kettle is whistling for your bath
Dear Seamstress
Drink to your sweet success
You have come a long way
Now the world is your runway
-----
Soibi always works late into the night when she has projects or is basically trying to meet her client’s needs. Through her eyes and dreams, I have seen up close how tough it is to start and run a business, especially in Nigeria. The State and Federal governments need to do better in supporting MSMEs, but before I turn this to policy banter... please follow her business page on Instagram, @thesoibi. Gracias.
BELLS ARE RINGING
Bells are ringing loud
Lost in the market crowd
The white wind from the north
Buses that go back and forth
Roasted chicken and fried rice
Busy kitchens and high prices
Stories of a lowly manger
Sharing food with a stranger
Presents under the tree
Three gifts from the wise men
The merry and cheer everywhere
The smell of knockout in the air
Bright and colorful lights
Movies that last long into the night
Soothing carols and songs
Can this feeling last for long? -----
Christmas is by far our favorite time of the year (after our birthdays). On our bucket list, we plan to experience Christmas in Finland or Norway at some point in our lives and watch the Northern lights with our daughters. However, Christmas in the tropical south of Nigeria, the Niger Delta where we ’ re both from, is always a delight and this poem captures that.
THE QUEEN IS SEATED
On the ground with her shiny robe all the children smile the elders too -----
This piece is written in a form of poetry called a Haiku. It is a Japanese poetry form of seventeen syllables and it seeks to paint a picture with vivid imagery and an in-depth message.
Soibi is one of the most relatable people you would meet. I hope Nigeria gets a public leader like her who fits into any context. She’s a Queen who can sit on the ground, play with kids, and sit on the high table with Presidents while remaining her royal self.
Many of our public leaders in Nigeria are not grounded. They are not humble, and they don’t know what it means to be content. Without their rigged political offices, they can offer nothing to this world. We need to elect people who have substance and character.
May you reign forever, my Queen
Our first date in Port Harcourt in 2017
Inspecting our first house in 2020
Flying for the first time together in 2018
Our wedding at the church we grew in 2021
Campaigning togther for gender rights in 2024
Driving our first car in 2023
Welcoming our son, Sean in 2024
Feeding giraffes in Nairobi in 2024
FLOWER IS THE SIGN
Two women born in November
Wearing a dress made of flower
A gallery of poses
A garden of roses
The sign is the flower -----
This is one of those poems that only Soibi would understand and I don’t plan to explain too much, Lol. The decision of a life partner is very serious and we both had our individual convictions as Christians based on our individual relationship with God. One of the strongest signs I got while I was praying was “flower”. People who know us personally might figure this out, but if you don’t get it ...don’t worry about it.
This poem is written in the form of a Limerick, which is a short form of poetry developed in 19th century England used to recount a brief, comical story in a lighthearted and humorous tone. It has five lines that follow the AABBA rhyme scheme.
BB for bread and the place we rest our head
B for your booty and the food for our baby
B for our books your beautiful eyes and good looks
B for our bond our love to infinity and beyond
B for billing our responsibilities never-ending
B for business your growth for all to witness
B for billions the zeroes we want in our bullion
B for blessing the grace we enjoy, so no stressing
-----
Soibi calls me B, but it turns out ‘B’ also stands for many other things in our lives which we both relate to :)
If you are a theoretical poetry junkie, you would notice how “and” “ your ” and “the” is used to ensure inside and outside rhymes.
THE STARS KNOW YOU
Shinning bright into the galaxy
Over the land and sea
Illuminating the Milky Way
Between planets and comets on their way
Infinite light, you shine so bright
Even the stars know you
-----
You know how you look at someone and just know that this person is made for the limelight or the global stage. I see that every time I look at my wife. I believe that one of my most important jobs as her husband is to ensure that she grows into who God has designed her to be.
A gentle reminder to go follow her business page on Instagram again if you haven’t, @thesoibi. Also check out our designs and patronize us, thank you :)
MY POSTERITY SONG
I sit up counting thoughts like mental coins in my skull
In this race, we have no feet but I choose to run not crawl
Life questions swim like cork in my belly
I seek to give my life a taste sweeter than blueberry
So how do I want my blaring posterity song? What would everyone sing about me when life stops strumming her gong
I’ll do my best
so I won’t be cursed dead like the barren fig tree
Ticking a good deed on every step of the secondhand as she models tirelessly
Yes! I agree to sweat as I toil in the sun that burns like an oven I won’t sit outside with an empty bowl expecting falling fruits from heaven
If my posterity song is sung on Key C
Then kids on the street would dream to be me They would search for my charisma as melodious as guitar strings
My character would be copied on billboards and taught to all offsprings
On my knees, I keep burning incense making pleas from my bedside
I want to write my name on the clouds as a Rivers boy from the southside
I dream of a cute picture like golden roses in silver vases
My feats, never-ending they would occur and occur like bible verses
How do you want your posterity song? How would existence remember you when you are long gone
Do your best to shine brightest
Please don’t be a dark sun
-----
This is the first spoken word piece I performed on radio in March 2010. In my typical didactic way, I was asking people to think about their legacy and I was really hungry to have a legacy beautiful myself because this was after my third unsuccessful university matriculation exam. What we used to call the JAMB exam at the time.
In many ways, this has become “Our Posterity Song” because Soibi and I care deeply about the legacy we ’ re leaving for our kids. We really want to die empty and fulfill the purpose for which we were created. The purpose we have come together to start this beautiful union. 32 months down the road, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner and lover.
LOVE IS FOR LOSERS
After two movies at the Cinema
he paid for her cab to impress her but ended up trekking from Eleme to Elekahia
Left with just ten naira to buy pure water isn’t he a Loser?
People say love is blind but this love didn’t even have eyes
She’s the Commissioner’s daughter so he claimed to be a pauper with just one shirt and trouser
She pays for all he needs and empties her savings
After two years of fake dating
He builds a house and buys his own car Travels to the village and meets his mother she selects another girl for him and he marries her Isn’t she a loser?
They say don’t drink and drive
But I say don’t Love and drive
Love has no license, it drives you crazy
Love is like dropping your purse on a bus hoping to come back the next day and see it or jumping down from Kilimanjaro expecting to stand and still have your feet
God is love and it’s true that through true Love Jesus died for all that nailed him on the cross but what if after he died no one repented or regretted their sins wouldn’t that make him a Loser?
See! Love is risky it doesn’t care about your age–whether you’re ten or fifty It makes you a loser but quote me... I just can’t wait to fall in love and become a loser
Because
love, true love
Is still the best thing, that can ever happen to you Period.
-----
This was written in February 2011. You will notice that there is some Nollywood plot in there, the Commissioner’s daughter, village arranged marriage, etc. This was the headspace I was in then so forgive me, lol.
However, just looking back at this, the most important message is that the kind of vulnerability needed to experience true love sometimes makes you look like a loser. When you apologize even when you ’ re not wrong, and when you put the person you love first even to the risk of your own detriment.
It becomes even more beautiful when the person you love is being a loser for you because, in the end, you both end up gaining from each other.
Thank you Soibi for giving me the opportunity to experience true love.
CHEERS TO MY MOM
Cheers to a Mom
A Brand New Mom
The Best Mom
The Real Mom
Cheers to the pains that you bore
Cheers to the parts of your skin that tore Cheers to you Mom
Now and forevermore
Cheers to the joy and laughter
Cheers to the now and the after
Cheers to you Mom
Because you are my Mom -----
By Sean Wikina featuring Daddy
THE HAND THAT HELPS
To be the hand that helps
To be there for you more than anybody else
To wash the soap off your back
To help dye your hair black
To be the hand that helps
To help you reach for the top shelf
To help you pull your zipper
Even when you can do it yourself
To be the hand that helps
To wash and to clean
To take out the dustbin
To be the hand that helps
The stone of help
My calling on earth is to help. Everything around me reminds me of this always. My name means ‘Stone of Help’ in Hebrew and my blood type is 0 negative; the universal donor. I’ve always known this since I was a Teenager.
I grew up seeing my Dad being very helpful with domestic activities at home - He was so helpful that my Mom would have to complain that he should stop and rest. Our patriarchal society absolves men of domestic activities and I hope that I can teach Sean to be a rebel against this dumb system that turns women into slaves in marriages - just like my Dad taught me, by helping Soibi, in the big things and small things, every day for the rest of our lives.
SEVEN THOUSAND FEET
Up here the cows are fat
The mountains lay before you like a mat
It’s so high you can touch the clouds
The smiling chef trying to impress the crowd
Secret gardens and trees
The road is made of hills
A house made of wood
The backyard balcony to sit and brood
Birds flying so close to your window
The hot water under your pillow
Insects and stray cats
This is what it is all about -----
Our first International trip was to Kajiado, Kenya where we spent one week at Lerruat Resort at 7,000 feet above sea level marveling at the sights and freezing. Soibi was pregnant with Sean at the time and it wasn’t a very easy trip for her - given the 10-hour back-and-forth flight plus the new food and vomiting, etc. However, we were both grateful that Nguvu Collective made the trip possible for us and we ’ ve learned a lot for our next international trip together.
I DON’T WANT TO BE A STAR
I don’t want to be a star and have fake friends want to shake my hands just because of my new car or rare Nike Supra
I don’t want to be a star the stars I see here care only about bling and skinny jeans I don’t need those I’ve been washed in the blood, I’ve got Jesus in my genes
I don’t want to be a star that shines just for a night I want to shine in the morning and afternoon beat the sun and beat the moon outshine the sunshine in broad daylight
Don’t clap for me
Don’t clap for me at the end of this poem because I don’t want to be a star the stars are too many, and the sky is a market there’s no way you can shine far?
I don’t want to be a planet, a constellation, or a star I want to be better I want to be, whatever shines in Heaven’s sky
Closing this edition of ‘Flower’ with this poem from my Spoken word poetry days. Back when what we all competed for on air was a standing ovation button from Eldee XXL, this poem was voted ‘Poem of the Week’ by fellow poets on air that day and also got the ovation live on air.
Having grown up in the same church, Soibi and I share similar values, one of which is our belief in the afterlife and the need to live our lives in a way that shines goodness across generations so that we will be rewarded after our time here is done.
We believe life is eternal. It doesn’t just end here. Through this poem, I think I attempted to paint the goal of my life as being “whatever shines in heaven’s sky”. Beyond the material things we acquire and possess, this poem reminds us to think of eternity always.
Thank you for reading Volume 2 of Flower. See you soon <3
