“Slowly slowly the streams gather
Little by little a sea formed
Then the shoreline recedes further
And soon your home becomes a pond
“Yet if faith bid you leave that glen
For the hilltop, to seek a home
Perhaps you shall find among men
Another glen, to call your own.”
–The Journey of the Soul
There are times when the prospects of change confront a man. The raging waves rise their ugly heads and the tempest rocks the little boat of faith, of hope, of life, and at that moment a man must decide whether to continue with the status quo – on the clearly defined route, upon that well charted course, or whether to depart from the familiar into the deep unexplored blue of the sea.
My time at Lyriversity had been one of learning and teaching, trials and errors, mistakes and corrections, but all in all I acquired the very fundamental effect of knowledge which is that of power, the power to choose wisely, to be better, to influence, to stand out against the tempest and the raging sea with a clear head, head free from illusion and say in an unshakeable voice: “QUIET”, and then to proceed so to speak like in the time of Christ as if the noise, the confusion and controversy are no more.
I started out on this platform with many a comrades, and we have managed to do amazing things together, to carve out a microscopic niche (but a niche all the same) for ourselves. But often times I had found myself on the crossroad, like I did these last few weeks and like Kwesi Brew wrote in his poem (The Mesh):
“I must either leave or come with [Lyriversity].
I [have] lingered over the choice
But in darkness of my doubts
[Knowledge which I’ve acquired here] lifted the lamp of [Clarity]
And I saw in [her] face
The road that I must take.”
And unfortunately the road leads no longer to Lyriversity (for now). This has not been an easy decision for me. I have tarried upon this choice, dragged my feet along the outlines of its frame, prayed and fasted, before I decided upon it. Lyriversity will always have a special place in my heart, she is my first love, the one upon whose guidance I learnt to crawl, to stand and to run.
The reason/s for leaving Lyriversity are a bit personal, and some who are quite in sync with the development of this group know much about it. I shall not spill it upon this page, it is far from my intention really. I feel that it is better to row straight on to the deep beyond than to row head on to a sure and approaching hurricane…yes a hurricane that has been brewing and will surely blow its fury upon us all in the future.
I have now opened with the help of some literary friends a new group which we call: INK FIFTEEN (INK15). We now have a blog: Ink15 and we intend to improve upon ourselves and the lofty objectives of Lyriversity.
Ink15 Logo
I do not write out of bitterness, I do not write to slander and to savage, no no I write to inform and to appeal to our ardent followers that the dream we all share still lives on but alas not on Lyriversity. It is now very much alive on INK15 – Imagine the Impossible. Perhaps like Rudyard Kipling wrote in his poem (IF):
“If. . .
You can watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings. . .
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man…”
We shall be all men…INK15
Okoye Chukwudi Ezeamalukwuo
Liberty of Creativity
Lyriversity 