Oke’s Musings: Poetry, People and Places

Category: thoughts

  • Learning

    If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time? I would study with the extra time. I’ll also spend some time exercising. Learning—reading and writing will improve my mental and academic health while exercising will support my physical and spiritual health. The aim is to have a wholesome experience.

  • Mothers

    Who are your current most favorite people? My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was—Lisa Leslie For giving life, mothers are angels and first loves to their kids. I grew up amidst lovely women. I am blessed with a loving mother – a teacher and disciplinarian. They say when…

  • Instinct

    Do you trust your instincts? Make sure that when you look in the mirror each morning, you are proud to own up to the decisions you make for yourself. Yes. I trust my intuition. Not consistently, but I would most times have never been misled by trusting in myself. I don’t know how I do…

  • August

    What’s your favorite month of the year? Why? August is my favorite month of the year. It is a beautiful month and my birth month. It is also a month of holidays, so I celebrate each birthday at home.

  • Green Places

    If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? I know that this post requires a direct answer. Still, I generally will live wherever there are forests and other natural landscapes like streams, waterfalls, and hills, undisturbed by the activities of humankind. Somewhere in the East or Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, or…

  • No Price

    How much would you pay to go to the moon? For what purpose would I like to be on the moon? If there’s no reason but for fun, I would decline a voyage to the moon or any other planet. I don’t think I have any reason to be on the moon.

  • War Is Not The Answer

    Humanity first—war is not the solution, love is.

  • Principles

    What principles define how you live? Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. In this prompt, I’ll highlight the basic principles I live with. First, I believe that hard work is crucial to success. That hard work works. There’s no…

  • Favorite Artists

    Who are your favorite artists? I admire a lot of artists. I like Jackie Chan, Denzel Washington, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wyclef Jean and Mary J Blige. The first three are movie stars and the last two are musicians. I have followed the movie stars for a longtime. In fact they contributed immensely to my childhood entertainment.…

  • Publishing

    What have you been putting off doing? Why? One thing I have been lazy about is publishing. It’s been on my mind and to-do list for a long time. However, it requires some financial commitment, which may have been my major discouragement. I have manuscripts of drama, poetry, and short stories. I also have many…

  • Sleeping and Waking Early

    What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself? The most challenging personal goal I set for myself is to sleep and wake early. I’m determined to be by myself from 9.30 PM unless I have a visitor or aren’t home by then. Since I started this, my body has learned to automatically wake…

  • Reflection: Gardening

    What is your favorite hobby or pastime? Large fruit trees blossoming around the countryside form a flower shelter, which also provides a spectacular view. The rains had gone for a break, and stream and river levels receded. I noticed during the summer, the petals of flowers were on the verge of blossoming. How we waited…

  • What is The Elephant?

    I will start by retelling this short and famous parable about the Elephant and the Blindmen, adapted from the book The Elephant in the Dark. This parable speaks volumes about misconceptions and how one-sided, unverified, and faulty ideology could spread erroneous claims and beliefs. A group of blind men learned that a strange animal, called…

  • Play and Work

    In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? Let’s start this prompt with a short poem I wrote some time ago. I call it Play or Labor. Play green locust, hopTake a swerve, make a loopWatch days turn into dismal years Labor brown ant, toilMorn and noon, dig the soil,Gather seeds before bitter…

  • Be Yourself

    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great…

  • Learning

    What motivates you? Staying positive all day brings me a lot of good thoughts, joy, hope, and the opportunity to learn and grow There’s so much to learn and I love discovering new things and knowledge. Thus, I’m motivated by the opportunity to learn new things every day. Each time I meet someone for the…

  • A Prayer for the World

    “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” — Michel de Montaigne Lifelong LearnerMy birthday is a collection of 8’s and its multiples. It’s a unique collection of 8’s and I’m delighted each time I see my birthday calendar. Since my last birthday, I’ve learned a lot. And…

  • Quote on Resilience

    “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” ― Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven

  • Speak Up

    Silence is not always golden When it comes to caution and discipline, silence may be an adversary. Take, for example, seeing a kid who rides bicycles on the busy road and deciding not to warn him of the hazard. Also, consider not calling the police instead preferring to record or watch gang violence across the…

  • Quote on Grace

    Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.” – Benjamin B. Warfield

  • Quote on Hard work

    Hard work compounds like interest, and the earlier you do it, the more time you have for the benefits to pay off. -Sam Altman

  • Thoughts On Eastern Europe

    I hope the Ukrainian spirit which represents freedom is not crushed It’s a sunny, peaceful morning here. Birds fly and sing over the rooftops, and squirrels swing from trees. At the same time, beautiful Kyiv is under siege. Traces of smoke from homes rise into the sky. A once peaceful and progressive country, now gradually…

  • How Lucky

    Gratitude I love you; I want you to know. It’s easy to take things and other people for granted. Sometimes people feel entitled because someone makes an effort to please or help them. Everyone needs to know that they are valued. Telling someone how much they mean to you is not wrong. Saying ‘please and…

  • Quote on Perseverance

    Remember, people, the universe; everyone is waiting to applaud you. Stay focused on your dreams.

  • Happy International Youth Day

    This is one of my favorite days of the year—though, to be honest, every day should celebrate young people and the amazing work they’re doing to create a better future for themselves, their communities, and the world. Here’s to wish everyone, especially the youth, a happy celebration.

  • Muse: Listen To The Talking Drum

    Permit me to etch this melodious stanza upon your heart Let the verbal rhythm be greeted with this fair talking drum, Give me your ears, let them listen as lyrics tell of the night frog Who challenged the melodious nightingale to a song duel

  • Night Poem: Silence

    Silence is not the melody of night Lingering moon, dawdling owls & crickets Emerge to begin the circus called dusk

  • African Proverb: On ‘Disguising’ Lizards

    Igbo: Ngwere nile makpu àfọ n’ala, mana onweghị onye ma nke àfọ n’asa. English: When lizards lay on the ground, no one knows those who have a runny stomach. Origin: This is an Eastern Nigerian proverb. Some fraction of the Igbo nation uses it. The agama lizard just like their reptilian brethren are quadruplets and…

  • Simple Ways To Overcome Sadness And Depression

    A happy family is a sadness killer The English dictionary defines depression as a state of mind producing a severe and long-term lowering of enjoyment of life or inability to visualize a happy future. Many people experience this daily. Depression sucks out the joy and life of an individual even when the person is still…

  • Poem: A Farmer’s Dream

    Night lets the farmer dream on his fields Little crickets hide in cracks on the earth They sing and listen to the wind howl Fairy butter-moths follow candlelight Amazed at the red maiden who was a wild dancer Valleys of ripe corn and golden wheat Are dreams blessed for the diligent farmer, When plates of…

  • Reflection: Keeping The Right Company

    Don’t let the world dim your lights. I was just a teenager when I learned that the kind of friends and acquaintance one keeps could either grow or retard him. It took me many years to accept that I can’t support anyone who doesn’t want my sincere help and that life is like a bus…

  • Thought for the Week: Patience and Perseverance

    Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear, and obstacles vanish – John Quincy Adams These two virtues make the difference between success and failure, between accomplishment and disappointment. If one can adopt them then he/she can conquer the world. Ponder over this.

  • A Big No To Wild Bush Burning

    Home again It’s a full moonlight tonight. The evening air is modest. We are all sitting outside, just in front of the house, discussing the day’s work. Some lay, rolling on mats spread close to one another. In between the lead tale teller’s story, distracting dialogues transpire, though as whispers. Incessant noises made by insects…

  • I Gained My Freedom

    Freedom sometimes does not come free. Gained My Right of Way Reminiscing on my primary school days, I would say I didn’t have much interest in the games provided for school kids. I was not too fond of the swing. I had no joy in rocking back and forth on a piece of the metal…

  • Quote: Life Is A Circle

    Life is a circle, and stories take us all around it. © Oke Iroegbu

  • Story about the Tongue

    Once, a chief told one of his servants to bring him the best meat from the market. The servant brought him a tongue. The next day the chief told the servant to bring him the worst meat from the market. The servant brought a tongue again. “What?” the chief said. “When I ask for the…

  • Opinion: Eurasia & Nagorno-Karabakh 2

    Is enough not enough? Civilian casualties In peaceful times, it is easier for the victor to reconcile with the vanquished. It’s ten days already, and I kept wondering why these two governments prefer to use force over dialogue. I regret that the Armenian political leadership failed to engage the Azeri in peace talks when they…

  • Opinion: Eurasia & Nagorno-Karabakh

    The drums of war have been beating since the beginning of this year. Eurasia ‘When it starts, it will be over there. Eurasia* may introduce the world to a global conflict.’ Those were my words as I sat watching BBC’s global news. Before the announcement on Nagorno-Karabakh, I had always predicted that a future global…

  • Racism

    It costs absolutely nothing to be kind Live and Let Live An Igbo (African) proverb goes thus: Let the Eagle perch, let the Kite (bird) perch also. Any that forbids the other from perching let his wings break! We say that as prayers in West Africa because it’s a reminder and belief that all men…

  • Poets Corner: Difference between Wisdom, Knowledge and Education.

    My take on this… It’s generally believed that knowledge is power. Yet many find it difficult to differentiate between wisdom and knowledge. For me knowledge is having the stuff while wisdom boils down to application of the stuff. To differentiate both from education is even a thing of further logic. In my opinion education should…

  • Farewell Nkosi, the Black Panther

    Life like the mist is temporal but legacies live and last forever The Black Panther I get easily bored with movies. It’s hard to see me watching TeeVee anyway. No matter how much I try, I can only watch National Geographic Wild and Discovery Documentaries. But when a movie gets me hooked I can see…

  • Quote on Courage

    I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson MandelaAt a time colonial forces and indigenous South Africans fought over land rights and freedoms, a courageous man spoke up for his…

  • Muse: The Happy Wind

    Poem: The Happy Wind Greet the happy wind, Tell him when I waved My fingers got him bursted When morning dew is upon the tree line The sky is sometimes blue and grass is green Far up the blue horizon the sun shine Birds sing from the trees all morning Yet the happy wind: timid…

  • Quotes on Resilience

    You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ Joel Osteen. A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose. John Maxwell. I love the light for it shows me the way to…

  • Reflection: Counting the Costs 1

    At times you need to stop everything you are doing to sit by yourself and mend your broken wings. Cold evening and a To do list I sit outside. A cold evening out here with me. A community of crickets quizzing through the grassland. A gust of wind upon my face, swinging my helpless lamp…

  • Quote on Love

    Of all the magic in the world, none is more powerful than love. …And that’s if we accept that any other thing qualify as magic. Love is a driving force. It can change things; perceptions and imaginations. Great achievements are accomplished through it. Great writers wrote about it. It’s something beautiful to love. Imagine what…

  • Quotes on Helping Others

    1. Nothing makes life sweeter than making people happy. 2. The people you help today become your soldiers in the battle of life tomorrow. 3. To invest in properties is good, but to invest in people is far better. 4. To make money, make people. 5. Your greatest trophies are the tears you wipe away…

  • Selflessness

    Someone is an answer to your prayers as you are to others Seasons: Things just don’t happen One beautiful thing about life is: there are seasons for everything so things just don’t happen. Everything happens to serve different purposes. Even in nature there are seasons. There are times for flowers to blossom, time for the…

  • Poem: Twilight

    Beginning and end Light after dark Dark before light Darkened skies With dancing fireflies Breezy evening Joyful moonlight And glittering stars A shepherd’s lore Down the country Sheep and goats, Green and gold, Patches of life, Water and fire, Dust and wind, Heaven and earth All in fine contrast But happy unison Shallow roots shoot…

  • Beirut

    Beautiful Beirut and AUB I’m writing about this lovely Mediterranean city because of my connection and attachment to it. I’ve seen several YouTube videos of it’s beautiful landscape and neighborhood. Beirut combines the tranquil setting of ancient history with the thrill of a modern city. I followed some Beirut based vlog channels and it’s always…