Poetry/Poems · Social Issues

Bullet Points…

Life is not a powerpoint presentation where everything
is captured and simplified into bullet points.

Children caught in bullet points of achievements
die tragic deaths in lettered words of administration.

© 2018 Jacqueline

(John Moore/Getty Images)
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Poetry/Poems · Social critic · Social Issues

Naive…

Image result for government images

she laughs
at the naivety
and the smallness
of their minds

they think that
vampires only walk
and feed
in the dark

in broad daylight
these beautiful monsters
blend seamlessly
into the crowd

© 2018 Jacqueline

We shouldn’t be shocked when government administrations do things that are reprehensible even in the name of God. When the handwriting is on the wall and we choose to close our eyes to the signs, we simply unleash wickedness in high places. When you vote, vote with your conscience. Search your heart for the truth.

Life · Poetry/Poems · Social Issues

GET OUT ALIVE!

Domestic violence, Abuse, Get Help

when she heard his voice
her heart leapt;
not for the joy of his presence,
but for fear
that his presence brought.

©

Jacqueline

‘Don’t die in silence. Domestic abuse should never be condoned. Get out alive.’

Staggering statistics show the rise in domestic violence. This could be your neighbour, your best friend, your coworker, your sibling, and so on. Don’t ignore it.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

Conscious Participant – Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

As the deer pants for water so does my soul pant for peace in today’s world. Each day I wear my big girl pants and get on with living in the face of multiple challenges, sometimes, unfortunately, doubled due to the colour of my skin. One topic that I find unsavoury to talk about is race and that in 2017 I have to justify myself as a human and my right to life.

I was raised by loving, upright and hardworking folks and I aim to be a good representative of my parents. Back home, we didn’t bother with the difference of skin colour and all the rampant ugliness of hate that currently swirls around.

I didn’t know that I’m black. I only knew that I’m a valuable human being and a fellow occupant of the world and it was not until I ventured away from my home country to the US and now the UAE that the true depth of the human psyche shows up in ways I never anticipated. It has been a roller-coaster ride.

My spirit is heavy at the moment and I want to keep my thoughts contained. It’s just that I’m sad that I’m raising children in a world where a good part of their childhood is now spent teaching them that they are no different nor less valuable than others, teaching them how to react if by any chance they ever run into a policeman, teaching them to walk away when someone decides to be flippant and call them ugly words. Teaching them that they must be conscious participants in life because they can make a difference and maybe change will come in their time. Teaching them things children shouldn’t be saddled with. Teaching them………it’s simply exhausting.

Jacqueline

Now we’ve got a spanking new badge for SoCS. Well done to all the participants and thank you, Linda, for today’s prompt ‘pant.’

Featured Blogs

Featured Posts 119 – Share your post links.

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‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’ 

Today’s featured blogs posts are:

Story from the corner of the street: there are stories that simply upset you and still teach at the same time. No matter the grouse between parents, their children should never become pawns caught in their game.

Books n Magic:  No magic like it. Short, precise and sweet 🙂

Land Under Water: a beautiful song dedicated to flood victims. Hearing it for the first time 🙂

Wednesday Day 4 – A little down: Well done girl! Getting weight to go down can be real work – the struggle is real and we don’t need any negative comments to the mix.

She wished upon a star: a lovely, encouraging read.

Do step in and show some love.

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together. 

P.S. Did you get to the blog party? Here’s the link. You can check out lots of other bloggers.


 

I hear the reverberations of the magic that’s hidden within.

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Support Me.

Writer's Quote Wednesday

Chastity breached – Writers Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge.

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Harsh reality destroys innocence. Jacqueline

Chastity breached;

innocence is stolen;

when no eyes were looking.

Bewildered child-hood;

bore pain of betrayal;

with the mask of innocence.

Beneath multi-layers;

lies an embittered spirit;

deprived of girlhood innocence. 

It’s never a comfortable topic to write about the abuse of the girl-child and even grown women and an issue most would like to wish away and hide under the veil of humour. Yet, the statistics and spate of abuse and violation of females are horrendous.

A lot of times, violation comes from close quarters. These incidents leave a not so strong female broken, disillusioned, embittered and bearing the burden of guilt and shame. Her silence costs her everything and it takes a lot of grace for a victim to overcome the burden of violation.

Society has not helped by casting silent and even vocal blame on victims, thereby making their burden a lot heavier and their silence more ominous.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Innocence – #WQWWC


out-of-the-silent-breath 2

Support Me.

Featured Blogs

Featured Posts 108 – Share Your Posts.

1456149614808[1]

‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’ 

Today’s featured blogs posts are:

Law of the jungle: social issues succinctly addressed in this short poem.

A job and why I couldn’t keep it – Stupid things I did when I was young: I never know what Pamela will come up with in her real life series of the silly things she got up to when she was young 🙂

Shopaholics Mumbai: I honestly believe that Indians are distant relatives of Nigerians and reading this shopping article leaves more conviction in my mind.

Order Curse Breaker Enchanted: Mel’s intriguing and suspense-filled book is now available on Amazon. Please check it out.

Do step in and show some love.

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together. 


Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

 

Jacqueline writes from her heart on passion, pain, suffering, loss and LIFE. I have been incredibly moved by her poetry and I know I will return to “Out of the Silent Breath” again and again.

Out of the silent breath

Stream of Consciousness Saturday.

What are we doing? Stream of consciousness Saturday.

Concentrated emotions tend to erupt one way or the other when the proper channels of expressing and addressing these issues are not being explored and the end results are not always pretty.SoCS badge 2015

A lot of social issues that we are currently battling are the build-up of so much hurting and unresolved issues that society has been sweeping under its huge carpet that it keeps mounting until there’s hardly any more space to squeeze in more rubbish and with the aid of our new improved social mediums to stir the hornet’s nest,  ‘Kaboom’ the combustion is let loose and we are left bewildered, hurt and in pain.

We truly can’t continue the way we are going. Holding in oppressive feelings, ignoring and suppressing them, violence or hiding heads in the sand has never resolved any problems; channels of dialoguing should be opened up to deal with concentrated issues of the past and present.

I remember when I was reading stories about Auschwitz gas chamber, the concentration camps and watching escape from Sobibor, I couldn’t stop crying for days. It was a hard read!
I just couldn’t fathom that amount of deep-seated wickedness and concentrated effort to annihilate others just because they don’t fit into a certain category of someone’s description. People were profiled and marked out for destruction.

If we look into history, the depth of man’s inhumanity to fellow man in these concentration camps, on slave ships, plantations, and so on, is despicable and you would think that we learn, however, the sad news is that we simply haven’t learnt from history or maybe some choose to ignore history and write their own.

It seems that we haven’t learnt that racial profiling only builds hurt and harm. We forget so quickly and if things are not properly handled they will certainly spiral off the hook.

I’m very much attuned to what happens around me and the society at large, so in as much as I may not be in the vicinity of an incident, history has also shown that a war can be triggered in one place and its effects ricochets everywhere and for several weeks these disheartening news have pierced my skin and derailed my concentration on my writing.

I sincerely hope that people begin to think clearly and understand better and that we get a grip of these turmoils sooner than later.

I believe that the indomitable spirit of humanity to hunger for greater good and peace will prevail.

Jacqueline


Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Stars, Five Stars, Logo, Icon, Symbol, Five, Rating

Wonderful, evocative poetry by a talented writer. Left me hungry for more. Jacqueline can write! Linda Bethea

Out of the silent breath

If you enjoy my works and would like to do so, you can fuel my creativity with a slice of cake or coffee😉

Poetry/Poems · Uncategorized

Closing the gap…

 

They called it an ugly name

They called it Slave trade

It was man’s inhumanity to fellow man

An injustice that took so many and destroyed the human spirit

*********

They called  it by a fancy name

They called it The Holocaust

A horrific history

Of the evil machinations of men

*********

They called it by a fancy name

They called it apartheid

It was the great divide

That was strictly applied

*********

They gave it a fancy name

They called it genocide

It was monstrous and intensified

An attempt to cast aside and to nullify

**********

They have given it a fancy name

It is called racism

Which is just a term applied

To subjugate and sub-divide

********

Each of these fancy names

Has created huge gulfs

Among the human race

That leaves us mortified

********

How do we ever bridge

This great divide?

For the bridge across

Is a long, treacherous walk away from home.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

The Daily Post Prompt Divide.

 

 

Little rants · Musings · Social Issues · The Daily Post · writing ideas

Have You Heard The News?..

bbc-news-icon

In response to The Daily Post prompt Connect the dots

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

With the amount of distressing news that comes on once you turn on the Television, I limit my time spent on TV to the barest minimum each day and on some days, not at all!

Catching the headline news is done when my day is half gone, that way I keep sane and will not start my day with so much disheartening, depressive news.

I  equally refuse to listen to news before going to bed. It is bad for one’s health!

However, with respect to this prompt,  I turned on the TV and caught the tail end part of  possible strategy for combating ISIS.

The question posed was that with all the human atrocities that they commit, how come they maintain a  position of financial strength by selling oil illegally and purchasing ammunition from undisclosed sources?

What went through my mind as I listened was:

  1. Who are these Clandestine ISIS  customers?
  2. Who are  their shameless ammunition suppliers?
  3. How come the World powers that be,  lack the  intelligence to decipher who these entities are?
  4. Is it that the World powers know and yet they choose to play Possum or Ostrich?

I know that without being told that there are those who will forever capitalize on the sorry state of affairs that exists in the World to fatten their pockets through the loopholes of terrorism, but to what ends?

How much is it really worth trading on people’s lives ?

I think that these are some of the most miserable greedy humans on Earth!  Those who trade on human lives to line their pockets!

All the wealth acquired can never buy a true moment of peace!

We can only occupy a room at a time , drive a car at a time,  eat only so much and at the end of it all, we have a small 6-foot space in Mother Earth where we go from dust to dust and with NOTHING AT ALL! !

Sorry to sound so dour 😔!

That is what the news does to me at times.

Well, let me turn off the TV right now and look forward to brighter thing’s since I can’t solve all the  World’s problems!

A good evening to you all😊

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Image credit: Pinterest