Mwalimu Oyidun,
Why do I bother? Respect makes me take you seriously. To ignore you would be nothing less than silent contempt.
Surely the holy script / hadith about the 72 holy virgins is not in dispute?
I guess that next you will be telling Charlie Hunter is that he should change his teke-teke . You can easily tell him that and hopefully you'd be less audacious in telling him to "change" his feeling of rhythm…
When I read Tunji Azeez's line "to assuage killing hunger" just now, my own immediate poetic instinct was to substitute "living" for "killing" - and so that line would read, "to assuage living hunger"
The poet Adebayo was talking to Chidi; he is now talking to you, and in talking to you, since he is not out for your amusement, he is being neither funny nor intelligent – and since his lack of intelligence and lack of humour is beyond dispute, he does not need approval from you in order to verify that his IQ is below zero - and so he excuses you, which means that you are hereby permitted by me to name any number of Senator Yerima type young girls or young women, any number , by their first names or their marriage names - any number between one and infinity/ an infinite number, which is more than the number of the late King Solomon's wives.
Coming to think of it, the virgin birth is not funny either – if you believe that sort of thing, then of course the biology of that spiritual event is surely holy, having been granted a poetic , non-ecclesiastic license to be holy, by any verbal definition permitted by the first amendment.
What about don't poke
Any of the 72 dark-eyed virgins
even as a joke?
"And on their promises of paradise
You will not hear a laugh
All except inside the Gates of Eden "
You yourself were probably only granted "independence" on 1st October 1960, but I myself, I was born free and independent. It's a characteristic of most people born in Freetown Sierra Leone: they do not appreciate other people telling them what they may or may not say. In spite of that, I would like you to give me permission to write about as many virgins as I like. What about 666 virgins, instead of a mere 72 African virgins, just for greater hyperbolic effect? Must I also seek your permission to write about clictoridectomy? It was in the Swedish TV news last night that the European Union is going to tackle the problem of local immigrants FGM with a project called CHANGE. I wonder where they got their permission from.
Now all you need to hear from me is the promise to try not to offend you again, even when I'm talking to Brother Chidi. Yes, I know that one man's meat (halal beef/ lamb) is another man's poison, but just this idea is enough reason to look more deeply at other words without so much fear.
My next blog piece will be about the situation in Egypt, followed by a fairly long one about Brother Obama's forthcoming visit to Stockholm, September 4th to 5th this year (he is my man, Sweden's foreign minister Carl Bildt is my man and Sweden's conservative prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt who supported Brother Obama both elections, is also my man, just as Goodluck Jonathan is your man, I guess.
After that I'm going to do a piece, on terrorism and the 72 virgins. The outline is already clear what remains is to put it on paper.
Do have a nice weekend and don't do anything that I wouldn't do: please don't be too hard on the idea of vulnerable virgins
Sincerely,
On Friday, 9 August 2013 12:18:51 UTC+2, oyindun wrote:
Don't write about 72 virgins not even as a joke. Its neither funny nor intelligent. If you are not referring to young women or girls, you are excused.
O.
On 9 Aug 2013 02:16, "Cornelius Hamelberg" <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:--
Chidi,
Birthdays are for giving thanks that the Almighty has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this season, even if the current feeling is a little bitter-sweet.
Your family and we too thank the Almighty that you are in our world.
Our task is to contribute to making this planet a better place to live in. So, we want to see more of you here – and in Nigeria too - before someone writes our Bertrand Russell type obituary, when we graduate from mother earth to the next stage of existence, hopefully at about 120 years of age, that the golden mountain no longer exists - although the 72 African virgins could be up there waiting for us as we will eventually find out before we pass into non-existence…
So cheer up even if you feel that you yourself cannot be happy until all the brothers and sisters are also happy.
Peace & Love,
Sincerely,
On Thursday, 8 August 2013 10:58:12 UTC+2, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:By Chidi Anthony Opara
Daybreak.
Dew-like drizzles
Dulling the bright demeanour
Of this budding August break day.
Drizzles,
Downpour.
Fore flavour of Ramadan feast.
"Today is the eighth day of August"
My mind murmured.
The dull demeanour of this August day
Peeped into my den,
I peeped.
A congregation of choristers
Converged,
Besieging my den door.
"Today is the eighth day of August in 2013 AD",
"Today marks your fiftieth year on earth",
"Today marks your golden jubilee on earth"
The choristers chorused.
"This jubilee is not golden"
My mind murmured.
I mused,
My mind meandered the maze of miseries.
Hordes of hapless citizens
Hamstrung by unholy homilies
Huddle in public places
Homeless,
Hungry,
Angry,
Hunted by self-anointed holy warriors,
Hunted by militants of all manners.
My mind moved to Biafra,
To other vanquished lands.
My mind gazed at the genocide.
This jubilee
Indeed is not golden
My mouth murmured.
(This poem is in commemoration of the author's fiftieth birthday anniversary. All Rights Reserved).
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