JUUC FirstLight

  EVE AND GAEA: SONGS THAT NATURE SING By Clinton Uwaje   In my palms rests you, a dream that could easily crumble like untended seeds For I wasn’t blessed like mother Gaea’s greens; beautiful sucklings that could touch the hottest of days and be kissed and caressed by the sweetest of rains Their tender leaves lick moist soft air as they yawn in spring woken by hearty chirpings of the birds and the fluttering of their angel wings Not you. The earth despises you! A spawn of dying stocks and sticks To her you are weed with withered and rotted roots to be paid no heed Like me, you are born barren, a creature of ugliness birthed by ugliness The unbridled joys and melodies of fertility you may never taste You sit there in the sand. Empty. Rejected. In silence born out of loath, weathered by the brunt of disdain  Beneath the earth you reach to connect with Gaea, For a taste of her nectar; an elixir for your hurt and faint heart Your want, No. Your need she greets with scoff As ...

Photo by Elena Baidak on Unsplash By Etinosanobua Egharevba Can anyone truly describe the sound of the heart breaking? It is similar to the clunks of little rocks that hit the drape coffin of your father, swallowed by the wails of your mother flinging her worn-out Ankara, clutched by women with meaty arms and bristled voices. The sweltering heat from the sun overhead burned the men who threw the sand into his grave. I avoided my mother’s gaze because I knew she knew. They all did. Everyone remembers what I did, but no one knows why I did it. “He has gone to be with the lord,” the priest clamped my shoulder, nodded, and brushed by me. Maybe I should have asked him what he meant by that, why the Lord took my father so early. Maybe I should have asked him why the lord had let me kill him. ONE MONTH EARLIER The room was laced with the acrid scent of citrus that stung my eyes as I moved toward him. He lay on the bed like he had been doing for two years: his eyes scanning each movement like ...

  Each time a raindrop hurries to kiss the earth, the plants, the weathered rooftops. Each time a raindrop trails down the green length of the plantain stump in my father's backyard, waddling in a pool of muddy affection, where dragonflies, pecking at litter, flit. Each time this happens, sacredness is offered as a sweet-smelling savor that pacifies the wailing of the heavens. A vow emerges  to  the forefront of a foggy memory and a bow is sighted, riding on the palm of an infinite God.       @Poetry_Of_God

[when being broke feels like signing a contract you never read..] By Jesse Jackson  Poverty isn’t really about lacking money anymore,  it’s a legal and financial ecosystem with its own terms, clauses, and conditions. Somewhere between bank policies, loan app disclaimers, and government relief programs, the poor have become unwilling signatories to a contract they never agreed to. Clause 1: “Access” is a luxury product! In the financial world, the word access is treated like charity; as if inclusion itself were a favour. You want a small loan? There’s an app for that, with 30% interest and a legion of customer service reps ready to harass you if you default. You want to save money? There’s a fintech wallet that will freeze your funds faster than it credits them. It’s ironic: the richer you are, the more financial systems trust you. The poorer you are, the more proof they demand: utility bills, collateral, references, guarantors, BVNs, next of kin, and maybe a blood sample if po...

By Amaefule K. Chimjurumafo Redemption Dear Dahlia Dear Dahlia By the time you read this email I'll be gone. Maybe by this time, you'll also hear my babies have suffocated in the night, and you'll be trying to doubt what your mind is telling you. I'm emailing you because out of all the people in my life, I think that you'll understand what I want to say the most. I think that you'll understand me when I tell you that I don't want to be found. For the longest time, I've always felt like I knew what I wanted in life, like the goal has was clear— Finish with a first class, go to law school, get married, get a doctorate, have a kid or two… I really was not prepared for the amount of emotion that would wash over me when I saw my babies faces for the first time. I could not describe if it was love or futility, as the realization hit me that they were never going to be normal. I know in my heart of hearts that the only thing that awaited them was suffering and ...

  By Idorenyin John EVOLUTION The music industry has undergone significant changes in recent years due to advancements in technology. From the way music is produced and distributed to the methods of promotion and consumption, technology has had a profound impact on every aspect of the industry. The music industry has come a long way since the days of vinyl records and cassette tapes and CDs.  Vinyl records, with their analog quality and the ritual of carefully placing them on a turntable, offered a rich and special experience. Cassettes made music more portable, allowing users to create their own mixes, share them, and carry them around. CDs, in turn, introduced sharper sound quality, easier production, and greater durability. Everything changed with the arrival of the MP3 in the late 1990s. This compressed format allowed large amounts of music to be stored on small devices without significant quality loss. For the first time, you could carry your entire music collection in yo...