Editor's note: LifePorté in conjunction with Save Tomorrow Stratagem Initiative and PlagXnigeria organised poetry and essay contest between February to March 2019, which targeted students in public and private primary and secondary schools in Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria with the hope of stimulating awareness about the brain and its dynamic functions in our daily activities. A total of 49 entries were received for the poetry category, and 23 entries were received for the essay category. After a series of rigorous selection processes, the following poems were selected and the authors awarded with various prizes and tuition support for their schools.This event was organised following an Educational Outreach Grant awarded to Smart Mbagwu by the American Association for Anatomy with additional support from TReNDinAfrica, Science Communication Hub Nigeria and the Department of Anatomy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria.

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Grade 4

 

My Brain and I

Yes, my pride, my guide and mine

Let them see your beauty, through me it shines

I will flaunt you even when they wine and dine

Regardless of the thorn, I will walk through the pine

 

My guide on the roughest path but wise

Thy gentility on me milled and nice

You store, keep, and make hope up the skies

Possibilities on thy table you spice

 

My brain, beauty without a kind

Forever in me, on my mind

 

Ewelike Godswill Chinweoke

BAW/P4/19002

The Masters Academy Nnewi

 

 

 

 

My brain and I

My brain, my machine

That solves all problems

Directing, storing, assembling

Message into meanings

 

Oh! Precious brain

For your sake I'm not drained

Like the ocean, you are vast

My brain, my brain, I cast

 

My brain and I

Intricately woven by the creator

I run, run, run, I do not fall

In my academics I excel for your sake

Oh! My brain my priceless box

Oh! Brain, you tireless clock

 

Osim Anne

BAW/P4/19001

Immaculata N/P School Okwuani, Nnewi

 

 

 

My brain and I

You are the thing that function in my body

How can I do without you?

You change my destiny

Then, you took me to another world

All the good things I need come from you

You assimilate any knowledge that comes to you

You made me whom I am today

You are the vacuum that functions big in my world

Which I cannot explain

You remind me of the past which I have forgotten

And of the future I am yet to know

 

Nwofor Chukwudalu

BAW/P4/19005

Kings Nursery and Primary School Nnewi

 

 

Grade 5

 

My brain and I

Your alertness awakens my passion

To fight, conquer and gain my vision

Leading me through the path of responsibility

Matching ahead of me like an armed soldier with agility

Ready to face whatever pops out of the toil

Planting my hope on a wet dark soil

Sprinkled with determination and focus

Success undoubtedly becomes my bonus

 

Dear brain of mine

You deserve a thousand more words

The giant we shall face with more guts

You open my understanding to the odds

My guide on a rough path

Walk with me till I part

 

Ogunshola Richard Taye

BAW/P5/19005

The Masters Academy

 

 

My Brain and I

My brain, so precious to me.

I wonder and ponder,

I couldn’t be me without you,

You complete me.

 

Truly, you are small,

Yet, you help me think so big,

Just like master card, you read my mind,

Decoding and Recording every data.

 

My Brain, my commander

Sender of message,

Without you, I am incomplete,

My brain, dear brain.

 

Ositadinma Nzoputa

BAW/P5/19002

The Good Shepherd Junior School, Nnewi.

 

My brain and I

My brain and I,

My brain and I,

Twisted and connected like boiled noodles,

My brain a powerful weapon and organ,

Thank you for being my academic companion,

Thank you for making me a champion

 

My source of wisdom and knowledge,

You help me deal with life's issues,

My brain, such an indispensable asset of mine,

My every word, dialect, thought and action,

I sing you these praises to praise you alone,

And the Almighty for such wonderful gift.

 

Okoro miracle chidiebube

BAW/P5/19017

Heirs Nursery/Primary School, Nnewi.

 

 

 

Grade 6

 

 

My brain and I

Always there to guide my reasoning

Always there in the skull never leaving

You sprout out of me ready to assess

Accurate at all times, you never give a mess

 

Dusk to dawn, you are there to help

And at all times, you never stop to grasp

You save things that eyes cannot see

For your bag is large to contain even the sea

 

I am not ashamed to be in love with you

                          My brain of life, sitting on my knowledge pew                         


 Akhienle Eboh Queen

BAW/P6/19015

The Masters Academy

 

 

My brain and I

My brain, you're wider than the sky

No one knows the boundary which you can operate

You are incredibly immeasurable

Each time I want you know you more

You unfold a new you

Which I find difficult to understand

You take me far and also bring me close

So close that sometimes I feel like embracing you

You are always at work in me and with me

You know no limit

Yes! You are wider than the sky

 

Nwankwo Chhimgozirim

BAW/P6/19004

Kings Nursery and Primary School, Nnewi

 

 

My brain and I

Imagine life without my brain

It would be like a field without rain

For no matter how much I yearn,

I'll find it too hard to learn

 

For the sake of my brain

Have I achieved so much

As the dew and the rain

Knowledge pours out as such

 

I wake by six

And start to fix

To go to school

To sit my brain on wisdom's stool

 

I walk and not stumble

All thanks to you, dear brain

You've made my thoughts stable

I love you so much, dear brain.

 

Udegbe Chukwuebuka Bartholomew

BAW/P6/19012

Immaculata N/P School Okwuani Nnewi