| Mohamed Salaam Kamara was born in Freetown attended the Methodist Boys High School and St. Edward's Secondary School, where he attained his 'O' and 'A' level certificates, respectively. He later entered Njala University College, where he pursed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Linguistics. He then proceeded to Fourah Bay College in attainment of a Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication. At the time this poem was submitted, he was pursing his Masters of Arts degree (M.A) in Literature at Njala University. He has worked as a journalist and he has chosen communications as his profession. The list of poems submitted below are amongst a collection of poems that he has submitted to the university in fulfilment of his current course of study. |
My City
Stunningly it lies
Engulf by precipitous hills and mountains
Down below rest the deep blue sea
City of sunshine, and rains
Orchard of natural vegetation
Rivers flow in every fora
City of darkness
Shelters in hurl condition
Save for enough water to drink
Sadly dirt kills beauty
Debris pervade the corridor
None to take responsibility
Albeit classless dichotomy prevails
Zones nomenclature East and West
Yet friendliness intersperse
Dwellers of the same parents
In unity they agree to breathe
Optimistically to trounce the quandary
Cassava
I am what I am
Producer of starch generation
Alone I'm placed in gardens
In farms also I reside
I gave birth to several children
Whose naming ceremony, I
Never attended, bar
My exploiters named them differently
Timidly strong I'm cassava
In grain I'm gari
Moist, roost, smelly
Foofoo they say I am
Oh! My master makes me
Reservoir of food stuff
Eat everything I produce
Disserted my stem aloof
Ha! Ha! I never knew
I'll be so important
Sustainer of human life
At dawn, noon and dusk
Eventhough, I am used
Misused and abused
I appreciate the service
I render to this hungry generation
Ravage Nation
A land of milk and honey
Born to freedom four decades ago
Political onslaughts craft the cradle
City-dweller enjoy nor thee nation
Power struggle in every half a decade
Civilians in political parties
Kaki boys in coups and counter coups
A nation ravage by decade civil strife
Itinerary the worse in nation's history
Jumping limbs, maim arms on the ground
Coups whiff rules the air
Dogs, awls feed on human relics
Houses burnt to piece, in gazebo individual sleep
Bless the peace keeper's intervention
At long last sanity restores
Socio-Economic crisis canons every household
Quarrel embroils serenity in domiciles
Educated politicians become squealers
Whiles infantile alumni wait unwaged
Bribery, corruption, nepotism the day catchphrase
But its people wait on patience hope
That spring will be reborn under their bright steps
But occurrence remains uncertain
gods! gods! gods!
In life without faith exists gods
Little obstacle it seeks gods advice
Such soul full of evils
In the atheist family they are many
People join the wagon for reason or the other
A path they could not justify
B-a-b-a! She cries I have no child
B-a-b-a! She weeps in agony I have no husband
B-a-b-a! She sobs in despair I am poor
B-a-b-a! He howls I have no job
B-a-b-a! He wails I want promotion in job
B-a-b-a! He screams I want to be rich
Their souls Beelzebub workplace
In them exist no taught of God
Though, he can transform their souls
God be the patient father
Who glimpses our misdeed as ignorant
In him the faithful finds strength
Lo! Mankind needs to fear God
The creator of ecstasy and earth
The father of all creation
Patient Love
Quietly I walk in the cold
Moving in quagmire of desire
Desperately in love
I could not realise
In a quiet aboard stays
My tormentor, free of worries
At dusk on a lonely road
I walk to see her face
Heavy winds blow
Amidst heavy down pour of rains
Patiently I wait to see her face
But to no avail
Calling and calling all the while
Few witnesses' response
Though negative, they make my day
Mind full of happiness as I path the way
Persistency brings me success
At last she yields
Slowly I enjoyed the union
Happily we remain
Crisis
Cry-sis Sierra Leone screens
Twenty four hours a day
Growth remains static
Dwindling rules the nation
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Electricity blinks as it likes
An hour light suffices for a week
Candles, lamps the people's messiahs
Crisis no electricity, individuals whine
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Cars, vans and lorry queues
Side, front and behind feeling stations
Pedestrians walk on foot to places
Fuel crisis announces the government.
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Oozing dusts gush the pipes
No running water in them
Buckets queues in wells and springs
Drinking water crisis, ponders the folks
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Rice the staple food stands high
Waiting for the rich to purchase
Hunger rocks the poor to sleep
Crisis no food, wails the heaps
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Walking on the dusty path
Galvanising the city with wondery
Stones avoid my presence, coz I kick unnoticed
Crisis no job, blub the oodles
C-r-i-s-i-s cries the nation screens
Electricity crisis
Fuel crisis
Water crisis
Food crisis
Job crisis
Crisis rocks the nation.
Come Clean the City
Come clean the city
Which corridor flows of dirt
Filths in all spheres of the nation
Unturned the soil to make me clean
Come clean the city
Epitome of bedevilled nations
Sandwich the ruler's dine
Starch cassava the masses scoff
Come clean the city
Scrub its foot with donors' funds
Brush its tooth with loans
Unsnarl its hair with extorted funds
Come clean the city
Forget not it hungry children
That dies of hunger in gazebo
Also in slums
Come clean the city
Descend those tinted jeeps you drive
Smell the perform of Arabia
Produce by the city you govern
Come clean the city
The city that witnesses
Complete absent of your off springs
Whose wealth you amassed
Come clean the city
He, from whom you feed,
He, whose name you smear
He, who lacks honest advocate.
Africa
Continent of beautiful sunshine and rains
God's forgetful garden of hope
Dress with unproductive brood
It culture was highly revered
Women bow to their husbands
Authority in the hands of the paramount chiefs
Thus came the exploitative colonialist
Motif of assimilation and colonialism
Corrupt, change and persuades indigenes
Twirling twirling the situation stays
Indigenes built in their explosive
Resulted to none but revolution
Successfully they conquer
Sadly leave the exploiters
Serenity they observed at independence
Black rules black save for
Corruption, nepotism and favouritism
Rulers in luxury while masses in squalor
Kaki boys' in military gear intervene
Gunshots on the air massive killing of
Opposition forces forms the order of the day
Today its indigenes are left with no option
But to befriend their former master for
Micro credit supports and indirect dictatorship of their rule
Woman
God's smile you possess
Amidst greed and hatred earth
You put asunder
The Heart-Beats of a Husband (Dedicated to my Wife)
Ho! Hawa you whom
I've chosen as my comforter
Entrust my life and heart to none
But to you my everlasting partner
Before today, I lived my life
As a semi-circle, wanting a better half
During my excessive search for a wife
I admire none but you; for this I pledge myself
You advise me when in distrust
You comfort me when in agony
You know when I'm content
You know when I'm gloomy
Accepting my proposal of marriage
Triggers my dreams to reality
You're a companion of different in this age
My God-giving sole-mate till eternity
Forsaking all others I see
Accepting none but you
And to you alone, I shall say,
I love you!!!
Marriage
What a wonderful day in mans' life
Both spinster and bachelor in happy atmosphere
Relatives, close friends and well- wishers in jubilant mood
Amidst hatred in its little corner
Many were loved, but one the happiest
A day is used to join the two
But just the beginning to the race of life
Sacredly believe a life time union
During which faces twisting and smiling
Children as its product strengthen the unification
Availability of wealth craft no exception
A bloodless relationship stronger than birth
Together they live till eternity
Thus, marriage seeks God's favour.
The Race
With anxiety enters the toddler
To the challenge of life
Ignorantly he faces the race
Four huddles were they
The first serves as introduction
The second little complication
In the third the child sees life at its worse
At the fourth and final stage he is eager to quit
The end result sounds the trumpets
A Bachelor degree is attained
Child rumple looks in flying colours
Parent's boots full of rejoicing pride
Teachers' Voice
Like you sitting there I was
With nothing in my nut
Juvenile nuts are flux jelly
Like every one of you
Sleepless nights were spent
Mutually with our perceive mosquito friends
In search of human blood
While I fill my empty nut with knowledge
Decades of years it takes to complete
Optimistic to be sitting in a swindle chair
In aura full of air conditioning
Telephones on the table receptionist outdoor
Chalk, duster and stick are my office apparatus
Red ink pen contrary colleagues with blue and green
Chalked hands everyday, dusted shoe ply my aboard
A service everyone needs, lack of encouragement it subsumes
When you get to the echelon
Forsake not your teachers
They've straighten your rough edges
That's which makes you what you are.
Disappointing Hope / Missing Dad
Decades a ago, since he left
Faces full of missing union
Love witnesses tears
Mother, children, relatives weep painfully
Whiles breadwinner leaves
In hope he departs for greener pasture
Mother corps he sees not
Nor successive strides in children academia
Death came and departs
Yet he stays in land full of hope
Through cords he speaks
Demonstrating his existence
Children and wife stay hopeful
Time diverts relatives focus
His image goes under siege
Greener pasture becomes failure
The land of hopeful hope, dichotomize families
Father becomes a dreamer.
The Commentator
My People,
Paul Nelson, I'm called
The people's seven drummer
Unjustifiably jailed, but there need
To be a martyr, that which I am
Shed not your tears woman
For we have made society so!
Indeed my people
Pioneers of law, executors and implementers
Share no different. For
The power that be, supersedes
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh Our society decay
Decayed by our attitudes
Senators change their dresses
In the absent of bathing
The barrels of the guns are silent
But we're not at peace
Broken bicks are thrown into prison
Yes, I can sense it!
My people are dying, saying their last prayers
In disgust, anger and frustration on the system
From these four walls that stare at me
I'sh live to expose them and their hirers
Shhhhhhhhhh my sympathy for my
Pen expresses healthy sounds of a living corps
Tell my people, signs of awareness bells are toiling
The pen is mightier than the sword, freedom is our cry
Whilst they crumble, like Beelzebub's empire.
The Lesser Evil
In Jesus name,
Amen!
Grant us the lesser evil
Oh Lord we pray
For we know not the saviour
Sugar coated tongues they possess
Rainbow promises belly wise
'Gbaylaing' sound the bell
They all run for the seat
Oh lord grant us the lesser evil
Like the melody of heaven
Sounds their marathon speeches
Multiple of representations
They come like Noah's first rainbow
Indigenes of the same emeritus
Assimilated in the same polytrik academy
In association they come to govern
The vulnerable broods of hopeless hope
In Jesus name, we pray
Amen!
Oh lord grant us the lesser evil